Higanbana no kizuna
by Ryujin Mei
Summary: When the Roshigumi murders Sakamoto Yugiri's best friend, she swears to seek revenge and bring down the Bakufu. She never counted on oni becoming involved or helping Ibuki with his love life distracting her from her goal. As the higanbana bloom...the hitokiri finds herself conflicted between revenge and feelings for a certain Bakufu warrior. [Reimeiroku & Urakata Game spoilers!]
1. Prologue: Spinning pinwheel

**Hai hai~ I found my copy of Reimeiroku last week while cleaning out my room and since I was never really happy with the anime adaption ... and since I'd like to try doing it from another viewpoint (Chikage's 'side' aka the Ishin Shishi or anti-Bakufu) it might be less cliched~**

**I'll be focusing on Sano-chan's route with a bit of Haji-kun's since Ryu-chan is the best in them (Shizu X Ryu forever!), Chizurun isn't really central to the plot but I'm pairing her up with Hijikata because they are cute together.**

**Disclaimer: (not really needed since it's fanfiction but hey!) Otomate owns everything! **

**A/n:** Higanbana- red spider lily/lycoris flower which can mean 'longing/never being able to meet. Just a sort of spoiler teeehee~

aaand the title (I changed it again XD. Final time promise!) means ' Bound by Higanbana' :P

**_UPDATE 1/3/15: _**Also! I'm including some of Urakata's storyline since the WHOLE game is focused on the anti Bakufu side (mainly Choshu and Tosa XD) so I'm sort going along with Izo and Katsura's routes! And! The official pairings are : Sakamoto Yugiri (OC) X Harada Sanosuke X OC , Kosuzu (Shizu) X Ibuki Ryunosuke, Yukimura Chizuru X Hjikata Toshizo, Niou'u Setsura/ Yukimi-no-miya (OC) X Kazama Chikage.

* * *

_**~Prologue: The pinwheels spin...~**_

"...you sure you don't want it?" I push the plate of _onigiri_ across the table and watch the dismal looking young man sitting opposite me. He doesn't respond and instead continues dabbing his paintbrush into the inkpot and smearing it on the paper in front of him. At least, that's what it looks like he's doing from this angle. Ibuki Ryunosuke-san is a rather quiet and withdrawn excuse of a man who looks more like the type to be training as a scholar instead of serving within the Roshigumi. Firstly, he has an intense fear of swords and just seeing blood when I cut my finger was enough to reduce him to tears. Truly, he was one pathetic wimp. His only merit was his talent for painting, with one stroke of the brush he could transform a sheet of white paper into a window of beauty, a glance into a battlefield..in short he was a genius with the paintbrush.

"...How's Serizawa treating you these days?" I turn my attention to the bubbling kettle on the stove and lower the flame while checking the steaming pot on the right. From the bits and pieces I had heard, Ibuki had been rescued by Serizawa and ended up becoming indebted to him, in effect becoming Serizawa's dog. "Ibuki-kun?" I glance over at the long haired boy who hunches over and trembles "...Kasamori-san. You don't need to get involved. I'm not...in any need of your help." He quietly pushes the plate back to me, but I stop it with a finger and click my tongue "Ibuki-kun. Eat. I'm not going to let you leave until you do so."

"I don't have any money to repay you." He bites his lip and hides his eyes underneath his messy dark blue fringe with a sad sigh. I wave a hand dismissively and point towards the half completed painting on the table. It's of a white haired oni like creature in the midst of slashing an enemy with a sword. "Then I'll take that painting as payment instead. Does that sound fair to you?"

"..." His hands grab the onigiri and he nods eagerly with his mouth full. Huh, he's also incredibly easy to read. Just like a poor little kicked puppy. I laugh softly to myself as he hands me the finished painting and mumbles a thank you.

**~x~x~x~**

The late hours when the sun starts to go down and the Shimabara next door begins to get rowdy with the sounds of laughter and music is my cue to start packing up and begin my 'real' work. Closing the wooden front securely and ramming the bolts in as deep as they can go, I head towards the small room at the back and get changed. I switch my bright red and yellow kimono for a plain grey one, folding it gently and placing it into the chest of drawers at the foot of my room. My black jika-tabi lie exactly where I left them last night and I slowly kick off my sandals and squeeze my feet into them. "..and for the final touch" I lift up the tatami and withdraw a pair of Apache revolvers, tucking them safely in the space between my obi and of course my jitte. Since I'm a woman, I was never allowed to learn the sword, but was taught the naginata instead. Thankfully, my Onii-sama, Sakamoto Ryoma is a progressive thinking man and secretly taught me how to master the jitte whenever we had the chance to sneak off away from the paranoid and overprotective eyes of our eldest sister, Otome.

My shadow stretches menacingly in front of me, like a yokai reaching from the darkness, reminding me of how I used to cling tightly to Onii-sama whenever Onee-sama sent us out on errands at night. Ever since the black ships began coming into the country, the situation has become worse by the day, the Shogunate do nothing to assist the people and are determined to keep the Emperor powerless. To make things worse, the dogs of the Bakufu, the Roshigumi patrol the streets of Kyoto each day, using 'protecting the peace' as an excuse for ruthlessly murdering anyone who happens to fall under their suspicion of being a member of the Ishin shishi.

Sounds of males yelling angrily and thuds as things fall heavily onto the ground stop me in my tracks. The houses surrounding me all have their shutters pulled down and a young woman gives me a brief warning glance before pulling her shutter down quickly. The atmosphere is tense and I can tell something isn't right, heading towards the direction of the commotion, I tentatively place a ready hand on the hilt of my jitte, and slowly walk. I have been trained as a long distance fighter, much like the samurai of the past who followed Kyuba no Michi'. Now, that way of living has long died and Bushido is now the norm, swords are commonplace among most people. Even so, as long as I am within a safe distance, no sword can ever touch me. Firearms are one of the few benefits the black ships brought us, I grudging accept that and sigh to myself when I hear the sounds of swords clashing.

No way, what the hell were the Roshigumi doing? Just yesterday they had damaged half of Numata-san's store claiming that some drunkards were destroying order. Nobody had dared to stop them and to make things worse, Serizawa had threatened to silence Numata-san if he spoke out against them. Poor Ibuki-kun, having the misfortune to be indebted to a man like Serizawa.

"Argh! please stop!" A loud yell cuts through my musings , bringing me back to reality. If I can stop another senseless murder, then I'll do whatever I can.

**~x~x~x~**

The first thing I notice is the light blue haori with the white bordered edge flapping in the wind. The Roshigumi. Wolves of Mibu. Bakufu. Supporters of the Shogunate. Blood thirsty killers. Whatever other names there were for them, all I knew was that they were the enemies of the Emperor and the Ishin Shishi, which Onii-sama and myself are a part of. I've put myself in a very dangerous position, yet I can't quell the curiosity that has built up inside of me. Who are they fighting against? One of the Shishi? A bandit ? I mentally slap myself for being an idiot and press my body closer to the wall and the shadows peeking around the corner to get a better look.

"Spill it! What the hell do you think you're going to gain from coming here to Kyoto eh?"

"Don't tell me...Sano, this guy's gotta be a member of the Shishi right? Those damn criminals!"

Hiding safely in the shadows, I bite my lip with anger , the Roshigumi are the criminals not us. We never killed innocent people without any reason nor patrolled the streets with swords flashing in the open and causing unrest among the people.

"S-stop! Please! What are you doing? You've got the wrong man!" The person being cornered is begging, and I still can't shake the feeling I know the owner of that voice. The Roshigumi with a purple ponytail steps in front and from the flash of silvery light, I can tell he has drawn his sword. "I-I only came here to visit my sister! I don't see any reason for you to be suspecting me of anything." The man yells loudly and backs away from Ponytail as he gets stabbed in the arm. "Guh!" They shift formation slightly, allowing me to finally catch a glimpse of the man's face.

"Kazunari-san.." his name escapes my lips before I can stop myself. We make eye contact and his eyes widen with horror.

The Roshigumi all turn to face me and brown haired man with a topknot walks over to me with a sadistic smile on his cursed good looking face. Blood flecks are splattered on his cheek making him look more and more dangerous. Kuso. I tense and bend my knees, ready to leap onto the roof and run for my life when he frowns and looks me up and down. On reflex, I hug myself to shield my body from being scrutinised. He smirks and lowers his hands from the hilt at his side. "Ah? it's just a girl. Hey, you shouldn't be wandering the streets on your own at this time of the day, oujo-chan." His green eyes gleam brightly in the dimming sunlight as he smiles sneakily at me and reaches for my cheek. "So, why don't you tell onii-chan what you're doing all alone out here?"

I instinctively flinch from his reach and look up to see the rest of the Roshigumi fanning themselves out so the man they were confronting is obscured from my view. This really isn't good. I'm certain that the man there is Mimegumi Kazunari, one of the Shishi samurai who I was supposed to meet and escort to the current headquarters and...my best friend.

The situation right now isn't good, Kazunari is injured and there are 4 Roshigumi members. Think Sakamoto Yugiri, what can you do in this situation?

_"A woman's smile and tears are her greatest weapons." _ Otome Onee-sama had told me that once, back when I had complained about how much I hated being ladylike."*sniffle* uuhuu..." I jab my fingernails tightly in the web between my thumb and tears spring from my eyes. "I-I'm so sorry! "

"hmph." The top-knot guy continued smiling and draws his sword, looking over his shoulder at the rest of the Roshigumi "Say, she might have seen something she shouldn't have... maybe I'll just kill her to make sure."

I lower my head and cross my arms so that my right hand is deep inside my left sleeve and vice versa. "Hey, hey." This time the tall redhead with a ponytail walks over to me, shielding Kazunari from view "No need to be so drastic Souji, she doesn't look like she knows what's going on. Just let her go."

"Hah?" The topknot guy I now learn is Souji scoffs and keeps his sword raised. "Geez, always the ladies man huh Sano? Whatever, I bet you'll regret it one day. heh...should I kill you now?" he smirks at me and I take that moment to slide the Apache onto my palms and fire directly at him.

"SHIT!" He curse loudly and clutches his side, losing his grip on his sword and fumbling to the ground. Dammit, I missed, before I can attempt to fire again, a whooshing sound forces me to step back, just in time to dodge a punch to the face.

"Explain yourself." The redhead spearman points the tip of his spear towards me, pinning me to the wall and pressing a hand against my forehead so I can't move. "What's a woman like you doing with firearms?...tell me! Are you with the Ishin Shishi?" I remain silent, glaring back at him with defiance. "*cough* Sano, just kill the bitch already" Souji coughs and leans heavily against the youngest looking boy with a brown ponytail. His green eyes flash with pure hatred as he clutches his sides tightly.

"Daaaah!" The young ponytailed boy easily blocks Kazu's clumsy blow with his sword and laughs "Geez, you're weak!" He grunts under the weight of Souji and keeps his katana pointed at Kazu who pants and walks slowly up to where I am trapped. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" The young ponytail boy yells at him but is stopped by the remaining Roshigumi. The silent man with a purple ponytail .

"..." The purple ponytail guy walks slowly up to Kazu, his left hand leaning on his hilt. "..." Kazu sidesteps around his slowly, his sword trembling as he tries to find an opening. Wait...left hand...sword still unsheathed... no way! "KAZU!" I remain frozen in place and pray that he can act in time. This man..without a doubt was Saito Hajime, the master of 'iai'. One successful strike and Kazu was a goner.

*SCHWING* The sound of a sword scraping against the sheathe pierces through the night.

"...*cough*" A silvery beam arcs through the air and a spray of red blossoms everywhere. "*plurt*" a thick stream of blood dribbles from Kazu's mouth and then a violent hacking sound as the person behind him pulls out the sword."KAZU!" As he crumples to the ground, his sword clattering and rolling towards another corpse, I headbutt Sano as hard as I can, bringing him to the ground, and fire at Saito; managing to hit his blade and deflecting the bullet harmlessly into the wall.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" I scream as loudly as I can, sounds of footsteps being coming closer as passerbys overhear. Panic spreads among the Roshigumi as they glance at Kazu's dead body and weigh out the consequences.

"Shit, we better go before word gets out. Just tell Hijikata that there was a suspicious man."  
"I'll report to him."

They start to run off as I stagger to my feet "I swear...I'll personally hunt you down and get revenge..." Even though they might not hear me, I yell as loudly as I can"...don't think...for a second.. that I'll ever forget!... I'll kill you all!...I'll bring you down along with the cursed Bakufu!"

"Yugiri!" A loud male yells out my name. A small group rushes up to where we are and stops, two men walk through the crowd and stand in front of me. One is an unnaturally beautiful man with golden hair and piercing red eyes, the other has a worn look on his handsome face and his short brown ponytail is messed up from running.

"C-chikage-dono.. Onii-sama." I point helplessly at Kazu's cold body and slowly drop my pistols to the ground in defeat.

"The Roshigumi. They just murdered Kazu."

* * *

**Thank you for reading~ Reviews would be much appreciated ^W^**

**oh! and yes, yes the Apache revolver wasn't around in Japan at that point in time but shh, its fiction :)**


	2. Hidden in the evening mist

**_Thanks to everyone who Favourited/followed this! _**

**_Guest: _**_Thank you~ Please keep on supporting me!~_

**_Guest1995: _**_teehee~ I'm glad you like this! haha poor Sano-chan doesn't seem to be as popular as the other guys but I love him more XD well, lets just say Yugiri's future with him will...be interesting haha~!_

**_waistedyouth: _**_I love SanoX OC stories too! but Haji-kun and Sou-chan get all the love it seems T.T_

**_ArchimedesAckerman: _**_Sankyuu! I personally like strong females (and I get to include weapons~)_

**_mimi:_**_*Salutes* yes! I'm glad you like Yugiri!_

* * *

**_~Chapter 1: Hidden in the evening mist...~_**

One of the things I detest most about men is their inherent ability to underestimate women. No matter how many times I attended the Sonno Joui meetings or relayed back information towards the members, all of them bar a few who knew me personally had attributed it all another male and dismissed me on the spot.

"I see. That means we cannot remain at ease within Kyoto now." Yamaguchi Eiji, a middle aged man with a stern facial expression, as well as the head of the Satsuma clan rubs his chin with a rhythmic stroke and nods slowly. "Thank YOU for that information Shinsaku-dono "

I fume silently where I am sitting and the teacup in my hands crack. Onii-sama places a firm hand on my knee reminding me to stay calm and avoid another messy situation. Like hell I'll sit back quietly Onii-sama! Just as I'm about to stand up and give the self-important jiji a piece of my mind, someone else cuts in and laughs loudly.

"Ahahaha, you're giving me way too much credit Yamaguchi-dono." All eyes turn to the back of the room where a cocky looking young man leant casually against the wall. When we make eye contact, he winks at me and smirks. "Really, if Kiri-chan hadn't posed as a maiko nobody would have been able to gather information that effectively. True?"

Everyone murmurs to themselves and cast fearful looks at each other since it would be incredibly unfortunate to diss the words of none other than Takasugi Shinsaku, who is one of the key members wielding massive political power. Not to mention he's Onii-sama's close friend and my self-declared guardian.

Yamaguchi-dono looks at Shinsaku and splutters "A-ah, o-of course Takasugi-dono. *cough* I never meant to dismiss Sakamoto like that. My mistake" he bows his head slightly and turns away with a huff. Hmph. I never expected an apology anyway you stupid jiji. Especially since _I _had been the one to personally relay the information for your hairy wrinkled ears to hear. Obviously I don't say that out loud, I wouldn't want Onii-sama to look bad in front of everyone after all. Instead, I nod modestly but can't help the triumphant smirk from spreading across my face when I casually examine my fingernails. "Well, I guess we were lucky that this particular member of the Roshigumi had a weakness for both alcohol and women. I might not have been so lucky if a higher ranked member had been my guest."

"Hmph, you were only fortunate that we were on close terms with the proprietor of Shimabara. Next time, you should think more carefully about who you decide to kill. It may have drastic consequences on the livelihoods of our comrades. " Takasugi Shinsaku chuckles softly and looks pointedly at me as he smirks. I glare at him while he shrugs his shoulders and looks across the small hallway. The entire room echoes with the sounds of murmuring and occasional soft arguing before Onii-sama raises a hand for silence " While Yugiri's actions were commendable, we cannot afford to do anymore to provoke the Roshigumi. Stay alert for now. They may make a move to seek vengeance."

"Just kill them off if they get in the way." Everyone turns in the direction of the speaker. Seated comfortably on one of the few chairs and flanked by his bodyguards , Chikage Kazama-dono looks aloof as usual. He had been an unusual member of the Sonno Joui, reasoning that since he was 'bored' this would serve as a welcome distraction. The well-built man with a red hair remains silent, as if assessing the situation while the shorter one with a messy ponytail and a twisted smirk chuckles to himself.

"Chikage-dono." Onii-sama bows respectfully, "I fully understand your reasoning, however we aren't in any position to freely do as we please."

"Hmph." Chikage-dono shuts his eyes and strokes the hilt of his sword "I am only assisting you because it happens to be convenient for me. There is someone in Kyoto I have to find at all costs and you cannot prevent me from doing anything else." One of the men standing behind him laughs and draws his matchlocks "Haha , so he says. I'm only along for the ride. As long as I get to fight strong opponents, that's good enough for me."

" Shiranui-san. Please refrain from drawing your weapons in here, if it is a fight you wish for, my younger sister is more than happy to be your opponent." Onii-sama gestures towards me and gives me a wink. At that moment I feel a burst of pride, Onii-sama has faith in me, and evidently isn't angry that I acted on my own and entered Shimabara as a maiko to monitor the Roshigumi's movements.

"Heh? A frail girl like her?" The corners of Shiranui's lips curl with distaste, as though Onii-sama had told him to feel free to drink the water from the ground.

One thing I cannot tolerate is being looked down upon simply because I am a woman. I reach behind my back and take off the Snyder rifle from the holding strap. Unfortunately, the only reason I have the latest and best rifle available is all due to Shinsaku-kun's political ties, but that's beside the point. "Well then, that works out well for me. I haven't been active on the front and need to sharpen my skills." I grin at him and lazily tap the rifle up and down on my shoulders "Shall we see who's the better marksman? Shiranui-dono?"

He scoffs and twirls his matchlocks once, "Marksman? You can't use something like that, woman!" Chikage-dono and Amagiri-san remain silent and emotionless while everybody else seems to be genuinely entertained. Keeping my anger concentrated inside of me, I muster up a smile and gesture to the range at the back "Onii-sama will throw a target into the air, first one to strike it before it falls will be the victor."

I snap the lever back and tuck the handle underneath the crook of my armpit, preparing to fire. Shiranrui likewise, gets into position and we exchange a nod. "Alright! get ready! and..." Onii-sama runs to the back of the hallway and tosses a paper balloon into the air "GO!"

2 shots are fired and a small cloud of smoke blows through the room as we both aim for the target. "Draw!" Onii-sama shakes the deflated paper tatters and waves it to show the two bullet holes inside it. It seems once again I've tied with him. This means I still need more practice.

"You're not so bad...for a woman." he smirks and twirls his matchlocks before tucking them at his sides. "Likewise, you aren't so bad for a human." I scoff back at him and lock the Spencer before slinging it onto my back. Wait, why did I refer to him as a human? He was obviously one, perhaps it was the teeth and hair. Yeah, that must have been it.

"Who said I was a human? Hahaha.." He scoffs to himself and promptly shuts up when Chikage-dono glances at him. I throw him a baffled look as Chikage-dono stands up to leave and disappears through the door. He was one elusive guy, coming and going as he pleased, pretty much marching to the beat of his own drum. Though, for some odd reason Onii-sama and Shinsaku-kun were the only ones who seemed apparently close to him.

"_Human?...if he's not a human then what is he? A yokai? oni? Tengu? "_ Even though it was most likely a joke to annoy me, I can't help but ponder on whether or not his words have a deeper meaning to them.

**~x~x~x~**

"Morning Kazu-chan. I accidentally made the miso too salty again.. Onii-sama hasn't woken up yet, but I think he'll get angry again huh?... speaking of Onii-sama, he's travelling to Osaka soon! I made him promise to bring me back some okonomiyaki for us to share ..."

I shut my eyes and clap my hands together silently, even though it had already been a few months, Kazu's loss still cuts me deep. The bottles of sake I've taken to drinking at night are testament to that. A splash of water onto the tombstone makes me open an eye in surprise. Not many people visited the graveyard at this time of day; though it's the person I see which surprises me more. Takasugi Shinsaku or Shin-chan as I call him, is standing silently with his eyes shut and hands clasped. The wind ruffles his fringe for a moment, lifting it over the right half of his face and revealing a red splotch. "Shin-chan. What happened there?"

He ignores me then bows his head before casting a dark stare "Huh. What do you think? I burnt my handsome face trying to fry fish for breakfast. Breakfast is _your _job."

"Frying fish shouldn't be that difficult." I scoff at him and brush the stray leaves off the edges of my kimono. "Wait, you what?" I whirl around in surprise and look questioningly at him. He was literally a disaster in the kitchen, managing to turn rice into a charcoal like substance and boil tea to the point the pot would burn through. "Must you be so slow Kiri-chan?" He scoffs and flicks me in the forehead "I. did. the. work. for . you. Now you'll owe me something."

Now it's my turn to scoff. I sigh for as long as I can then proceed to rub the bridge of my nose with an exaggerated effect "Oh Shin-chan...Shin-chan...*sigh*I already fried the fish for breakfast. You probably turned it into tar again. Though I don't understand how you could burn yourself. Sheesh."

He freezes and turns away "Really." I can tell he's embarrassed since his left eye is twitching. A habit he had ever since we were young. "Anyway, here. I got this from Remington-san, I have no need for it but I'm sure you'd find some use for this." He picks up a long object wrapped in fabric resting on the nearby tree and hands it to me. Curious, I unwrap it and pull out a sleek shining black rifle.

"Shin-chan! Thanks! What's this called? I've never seen it before." I fiddle around with the rifle, examining every little thing about it and hug it to my chest. He shrugs and takes back the fabric, tossing it over his shoulders "Remington-san called it a 'Spence repeating rifle' said it could fire 6 times in a row. You won't find another like it anywhere you know."

I hit him gently with the butt of the rifle and laugh "I know. Really, thanks Shin-chan. You're amazing."

"Whatever. Baka ne." he heads off down the hill and gives me a backhand wave. "Don't get yourself killed."

**~x~x~x~**

Shimabara at this time of the day is quiet, with only the occasional guest wandering in for some entertainment to pass the time or lonely men wanting company. Seeing as there are no guests to entertain at the moment, Kosuzu and I are idly chatting to one of the oiran, Kimigiku who happened to wander into the room we had been assigned to. Kimigiku is renowned for being one of the most beautiful and mysterious oiran, making her popular among customers though only the very wealthy or important guests like the Sonno Joui or the Roshigumi can request her services. Maiko like Kosuzu and 'undercover' maiko like myself are lucky in which we only need to entertain guests by singing, dancing and pouring drinks while Kimigiku does...more...intimate work. Speaking of Kosuzu-chan...

"N-nanaya!" The young and exceptionally cute girl smiles sweetly at me and slowly lifts part of her furisode up, revealing the white nagajuban she's wearing underneath. "D-did you perchance hear about the guests we have been assigned to entertain?" she clasps her hands gently and looks expectantly at me. I shake my head slowly, still unused to the weight of the kanzashi on my head and smile back. "No, I haven't. Who are they?"  
Kosuzu peeks shyly over her shoulders and giggles softly "I was told that it would be the Roshigumi."

"..." I steel myself and place the carefully prepared mask of "Nanaya" onto my face. Right now, Yugiri doesn't exist. Nanaya does. My only priority is to gather information from the Roshigumi and relay that to the Shishi."Is that so?" I crack a smile and look to Kimigiku for more information. She smiles mysteriously and says nothing "I suppose you'll find out soon." She nods towards the door and stands up gracefully "Good luck."

As soon as she leaves, I hear men laughing loudly and walking into the room. Kazu...once again I'm asking for your help. I shut my eyes to mentally prepare myself and suddenly feel the presence of an arm wrapped tightly around my shoulder. Gah! my eyes burst open and I twist my head to face the person directly. "Ah? Here's a new face I haven't seen before." My heart practically explodes through my chest as I stare right into the eyes of the cursed red haired akuma from the Roshigumi. Harada Sanosuke. "_Kazuuu! Help me restrain this killing intent!_"

"Y-yes. I s-suppose so." I lower my head and reach for the sake bottle and pour him a drink; while struggling to avoid the urge to ram the bottle onto his head and slam him face down into the food. Honestly, this is a scenario I should be prepared for, in fact I had planned for something like this to happen. If a situation like this were to happen, if any member of the Roshigumi decided to pick me; I was meant to be seductive and attract his attention. He would then get drunk and fall for me whereupon I would keep getting him drunk and extract information out of him. Finally, I would poison him and display his head in the town square for everyone to see and the-

"Hey." Harada waves his hands in front of my face "is something the matter?"

"Yees?" My voice goes high pitched as I bat my eyelashes and giggle in a high pitched tone, which comes out as a croak. Did...he...does he suspect me?...does..he recognise me...?...I stutter and launch into a rapid tirade "Er, I mean no. Nothing is the matter. Is the sake to your liking? Ara, I knew I might have chosen the wrong type for today. Perhaps you would prefer another maiko attend to you? Ah, that does sound much preferable I suppose. Here, I shall call Kosuzu-chan to entertain you since I clearly am not competent enough. Kosuzu-chan! "

"..." Harada narrows his eyes at my rapid fire speech and bursts out laughing. "No. I'd prefer you to entertain me. It's been awhile since a woman has made me laugh like this." Well thank YOU for the compliment. I cover my face in false embarrassment and bat a hand weakly "Ara! You flatter me! nevertheless, I will call Kosuzu, you'll enjoy her presence ...more.." At that moment, the atmosphere in the room changes completely and I direct my gaze to where everyone I focused on.

"-take it off. You're a geisha aren't you?" The older man resembling a wolf growls loudly and throws his fan at Kosuzu. I only then realise that this is none other than Serizawa Kamo, Ibuki-san's current 'master' and the leader of the Roshigumi. Speaking of Ibuki-san, he is trembling next to Serizawa and flinching, poor thing. Why is it that he always seems to get the short end of the stick?

"..." Kosuzu gracefully sits up after the hit and stands up firmly "I do not understand your reasoning for striking me. However if I may be so bold to correct you, I am not a geisha but a maiko and therefore will not, no I refuse to do something as shameless as that." Her hands tremble as she bows politely and seats herself down in front of him. Kosuzu...no. I don't need to get involved in something like this. My only priority is gathering information at the moment (and escaping from Harada's embrace). Nothing else can get in the way of my mission.

Serizawa flares with anger and flips the table, making the sake cups and bowls smash onto the ground, causing Ibuki-kun to flinch and cower in fear. "How dare you! A cheap woman like you should be obedient and do as I say, yes, just like that dog over there." He raises a hand to hit Kosuzu who shuts her eyes and remains where she is sitting.

"S-stop that! Please! She's just a cheap oiran, you don't need to exert yourself for something like this!" Ibuki-kun stands up in front of Kosuzu and yells , even though he glares at Serizawa fiercely his hands are trembling with fear. "Pssh!" Serizawa seems to have lost interest and snarls angrily as he grabs his haori and leaves the establishment in rage. "What a waste of my time. Dog! Go back and tell Ume I need her!"

"U-um..are you ok?" Ibuki-kun ignores Serizawa and slowly turns around to face Kosuzu, helping her to her feet. She slips her hands out of his and gets up herself "..I thank you for your assistance, though.." she purses her lip and glares at him coldly. "I cannot forgive you for speaking ill of me like that. Such things, based on poor judgement are nothing more than insults. " She frowns and bows elegantly "I shall leave now."

She walks gracefully out of the room, leaving me to deal with the aftermath I suppose. Alright, alright, leave it to onee-chan then. I sneak a glance at Ibuki-kun as I begin clearing up the broken cups, "Leave jobs like this to the men." A coarse hand touches mine and I look up to see the face of Harada right next to mine" . ..Gyuuhh!" Startled, I jerk back and knock into a dazed looking Ibuki-kun who stares pensively at the door.

"F-forgive me.. but I can't trouble guests with tasks like these." I duck my head down, praying that under the extra heavy makeup and extravagant outfit I'm wearing, a. Ibuki-kun doesn't recognise me as Kasamori Osho and that b. Harada doesn't remember me as the woman who tried to kill him a few weeks ago.

"No. Just stay seated and let me do it. To apologise for the actions of my superior." His gaze is serious and I just _know _when men make that expression, they won't back down. This is annoying.I hide my clenched fist under the long sleeves of the furisode and crack a smile so forced I fear my makeup will crack along with it. "Oh my, how can a maiko like myself let an honoured guest exert himself?" I stifle an unnaturally high pitched giggle and shake my head firmly "No. I'm sorry. I can't let you do that. Please, allow me." I reach for the broken porcelain across from his hand, resisting the urge to carve a neat line across his palm but he blocks my attempt and holds my wrist firmly in his grasp. A gleam appears in his golden eyes as he nods slowly "Alright, I'll back down if...you kiss me. I haven't been entertained at all."

I manage to stop my scream from escaping and stare stunned at him "U-uh..excuse me? "In my dazed adrenaline fuelled state, I vaguely remember Kimigiku mentioning something about the occasional guest requesting additional services which everyone, even maiko were expected to provide. Noo... It can't be helped. I nod slowly and smile coyly at him "Alright, but then your friend will have to go apologise to Kosuzu in exchange."

He thinks about it for a split second and nods "Agreed."  
I hold his chin with my fingers and press my lips lightly against his cheek before whirling away quickly "Please uphold your end of the bargain."

"That doesn't count!" he begins to protest but I slip through the door and into Karyu-sama, the proprietoress' quarters where I can find something to purge my lips.

"Ara, back so soon Nanaya-chan?" Karyu-sama taps her pipe onto the ashtray and glances at me "Please don't drink to the point of getting drunk. Also when you kill a customer, ensure he isn't a wealthy one like last time...Nanaya-chan? *sigh*""

"$%^&amp;(^$^$#^!^&amp;()%&amp;^%$!" I yell gibberish while downing sake and slamming my fists onto the table. "You knew what you would get into while working here." Karyu-sama smacks me lightly on the head with her pipe and grins wryly "Do be grateful I allowed someone like you into this establishment; though it was partially thanks to Shinsaku-kun. By the way, be sure not to anger the Roshigumi. "

Ugh, Shin-chan AGAIN. I grimace at her and chug down the last of the sake " Pfft, 's the least of your problems baba." I get another smack on the head and a pinch on my foot. "Nanaya-chan. I already warned you, as long as you are here, you must follow my rules. Now, as for- Nanaya-chan?"

She looks disapprovingly at me as I toss the furisode at her and leap through the window. " whatever, I'm a samurai before a woman and definitely not a maiko. See you babaaaa"

"If you were a real maiko I would have your legs broken for escaping!" She manages to yell a counter attack but I ignore her and speed off. I have things to do after all, and staying behind getting lectured is NOT one of them.

**~x~x~x~**

"-an *hic* zats why I *hic* guhhh *hic* zats why I ..." I smack Atsushi as he nods and refills my sake cup "...why I haaaaaattteeeeee za *hic* ro*hic* roshigewmi...DAMMNNN THEMMM" I slur drunkenly and slam my finished cup onto the table. "Fill!" Since I've been coming to his tarvern alot more often, we've developed some sort of mutual friendship among the two of us. I help deter thieves and bring him wine from the west (courtesy of Shin-chan *sigh*) and he allows me to drink to my hearts content and rant about my life to him.

"As you command my lady." Atsushi-san answers sarcastically and is about to fill my cup when somebody approaches from behind."Hoh? why are you here?" I instinctively freeze. No way. No _freaking _way. Why now? What is HE doing here?

* * *

**A/n: Yugiri's name (**夕霧)**means 'Evening Mist' and her nickname 'Kiri' is derived from the **霧** that but can also be written another way **(桐)** to mean 'paulownia' aka the princess tree' basically it shows how precious she is to her brother (Sankyuu Aoi-chan!) and flower meanings will play an important role XD**

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are much appreciated~~**


	3. Ripples in a tranquil pond

**Uwaah! I've finally finished school! *ahem* Thank you for the lovely reviews :D**

* * *

_**~Chapter 3: Ripples in a tranquil pond~**_

"Oh. just you Kiri-chan? What's with the get-up?"

Shin-chan yawns and looks at me with a disinterested face as I brush my long hair back out of my eyes. "Just a disguise I have to wear while pretending to be a maiko, genius. What are you doing walking around like that?"

He raises an eyebrow and pulls the chair next to me out and sits down with a thud. "Oi, Atsushi, the usual." He sighs and massages his temples slowly before turning his face to look at me. " There's been rumours...of onryo roaming the streets at night." He grabs the cup from Atsushi and chugs it down quickly, throwing his head back so his fringe brushes his cheeks and reveals the scar next to his eye. "...Several men have been killed or injured due to the onryo, all reports are fairly consistent, with descriptions of them having white hair, red eyes, unnaturally sharp teeth and all possessed swords. Geez.." he rests his head onto his right hand and stares at the tiny drops of sake left in his cup as they slide down slowly "I don't know the details, but something tells me this is more than just something to lower morale . Geez, I'm already worked to the bone and now this?"

"Pfft, what are you doing listening to baseless rumours like that?" I laugh and elbow him playfully so that his hand shakes and the remaining liquid in the cup splashes on his face. " Even I've heard of stories about the Onryo roaming the streets at night, it's something Onee-sama used to tell me to make me come home before dark. Don't tell me you're turning back into a child again. Aww. does Shin-chan miss being a little kid?"

"My naïve Kiri-chan, there's always an element of truth to every rumour. No matter how unbelievable it might be." He wipes the sake off his face while still managing to look cool and flicks me on the forehead for payback "My instinct tells me that there could be a connection with the Bakufu...or perhaps some yasha have been angered? hehehe.." he falls silent for a moment then smiles as if a sudden evil plan popped into his head. "Shall we leave now? Being out together at a time like this...mm.. I wouldn't want Otome-shi to kill me ."

He has a point. Even though everyone knows we're practically family, that doesn't stop the rumours of Shin-chan and I being a couple from surfacing. ..and knowing my dear big sister, if rumours like that were to reach her ears; there's no doubt she'd bare-handedly slit Shin-chan's throat and keep me locked up indoors until she finds a 'suitable husband'. No thank YOU.

**~x~x~x~**

"By the way, have you heard anything from Miyabe-san lately?" I climb onto the fence and spread my arms out for balance while Shin-chan walks on the ground like a normal person. "Nup. Nothing at all, and this is quite strange for a violent and impatient bastard like that. My guess is he took Ryo's advice and headed down to Edo to blow off some steam safely."

I nod silently and keep walking. Miyabe-san is someone we can somewhat call an ally since he too supports the Emperor and disproves of the Bakufu, however while Onii-sama and Shin-chan are more focused on politically resolving this issue, Miyabe-san and quite a lot of the other Ishin Isshi believe violence is the answer. The last we had seen of him, he had gotten his ass handed neatly to him by Onii-sama and thrown a tantrum before stomping off to Edo. Though, seeing as we hadn't heard anything about him , which was out of character made me feel somewhat uneasy. Now there was also the issue of the Onryo roaming the streets. Things just can't go smoothly for me it seems.

"...uhh.." A man walks unsteadily over to us, his head slightly askew and stands motionless for a moment "...guuh..." Seeing that his hakama is torn in several places and covered in blood stains, not to mention the swords at his side, it's safe to assume that this man is possibly a ronin.

"Uh, is something the matter?" I leap down from the fence and look worriedly at him, maybe he just came back from a job...being a mercenary perhaps? Hmmm... the man says nothing, only makes groaning noises and seeing as I'm unsure of what to do, I glance over at Shin-chan in the hopes he'll lend me some sagely advice. "..Kiri-chan. Get behind.." His gaze is focused on the swordsman and his right hand is fingering the hilt of his sword. "huh?" I dumbly struggle to understand what he just said. Thankfully, Shin-chan is aware not everyone can follow his genius and explains in simple terms for me.

"Tsk, take a good look at his haori. Notice anything?" I follow the direction of his finger. That's when I see it. The torn flapping cloth near the man's waist, clearly has the design of the Roshigumi uniform. Well, now was a more ideal time to leave then ever. Keeping a low profile was what we were supposed to be doing after all.

"...hurts...IT HURTS! Graaaaaah! ARGHH!" The Roshigumi's veiny hands clutch at his head tightly, as he convulses in pain writhing on the ground. "guhhh...rughhh..." A choking guttural sound escapes his throat and his messy black hair slowly fades to a blinding white which seems to glow in the dim streetlight. "...hrgh..." Red eyes blink slowly as the man shakily gets to his feet and bares his unusually long teeth into a twisted smile. Make that unusually long and sharp teeth. This doesn't look good.

I sneak a glance at Shin-chan who frowns and tightens his grip on my arm. "You know how you were talking about the Onryo?...well, looks like it's not a rumour after all." Evidently Shin-chan seemed to notice the Roshigumi's 'miraculous transformation' before I did because the katana he normally keeps sheathed at his side has been drawn out and pointed towards the so-called 'Onryo'. "Back me up Kiri-chan." I nod and sprint to the other side so that we surround the Roshigumi. The two remain motionless, staring each other down in a tense silent stand-off. I slide the Apache onto my knuckles and draw my fists up to my chest, ready to back up Shin-chan.

"graaar!"

The Onryo is the first to make a move, his katana raised diagonally over his right shoulder and slashing in a forward motion ahead of himself. Shin-chan nimbly steps just beyond the katana's reach and sidesteps back again, smirking as the Onryo growls in frustration and randomly waves the sword around, creating small blasts of air with each destructive swing. I guess he's lost his humanity AND sense of reason now. "...scum.." Shin-chan raises the hilt of his katana above his shoulder, so that the kissaki is aligned along with the ground and puts his weight onto his left foot. He sucks in a breath and swiftly springs forward, using the boost to add more damage to the slash and lowers the sword with deadly speed.

There is a faint crunching noise as Shin-chan's sword saws through flesh and blood. The Onryo's hands fall to the ground with a wet thud, one of the hands is still gripping tightly onto the katana. It rolls carelessly on the ground with a hollow sound, before resting at the end of the street. "GRRR...GYAHHH!" The Onryo howls in what I assume to be a mixture of anger and pain and convulses as blood spurts from the stumps on its arms. "Tch." Shin-chan flicks his sword and wipes the blade with the edge of his haori."...!" He whirls around sharply, just in time to counter a rough swing from ANOTHER Onryo. He's also wearing the Roshigumi's distinct haori and stares at us with a possessed look on his face.

"GIVE...ME...BLOOD!" A wild swipe barely misses slicing my face clean off. Panting slightly, I duck to the right and raise my foot up high, slamming as hard as I can onto his spine. There is a cracking sound and my foot instantly tingles with recoil as the Onryo roars with pain and charges ahead at me. Guh, what a time to NOT have my trusty Snyder with me!. The body crumples to the ground and lays twitching pitifully. "Bloood...give...me..." The half collapsing body slowly gets to its feet, completely ignoring the gaping hole in its chest. From the looks of it, these guys aren't going down so easily, in that case, striking the head should do the job. Clenching my fists tightly around the Apache and cocking it as far as I can, I hunch my back and sprint towards the Onryo. One step, two, three, four! I focus my strength I and punch as hard as I can. The mechanism fires upon impact and the rest of my lower arm digs right through its skull. *Shlck* The familiar boiling sensation around my lower arm sends a shiver down my spine and I quickly withdraw my hand from the collapsing head.

"huff.." I pant and shake my wet fists, spraying red droplets onto the ground. "..errggh...disgusting.." I shudder a few times and wipe as much of it as I can onto the sleeves of my kimono. Ah well, looks like I've got major explaining for Karyu-sama... Why the hell did the maiko kimonos have to be so expensive!

Slightly up ahead, Shin-chan has already dispatched the Onryo's head from its body and is calmly wiping his blade clean with the sleeves of his haori. Dammit Shin-chan, don't you know how hard it is to wash blood out of clothes? not to mention YOU'RE the one who insists on wearing the same haori practically everyday! 'lucky' haori my ass.

"...Shin-chan? what are you doing?"

"Huh. What do you think?" He nonchalantly grabs the corpses by the hair and proceeds to drag them behind him, ignoring the fact that he's literally painting the streets red with their blood and smearing offal in the process. " Now that I have decisive evidence of the Roshigumi up to something dangerous and no doubt threatening the peace, I'll definitely use it."

I say nothing and follow him silently, resisting the urge to retch when the smell still lingers around the area. "ugh..." My hands are caked in blood and as it gradually hardens, the feeling is unbearable. "Shin-chan...shouldn't we bring the corpses directly back...instead?" Lugging these things all the way back to our base would be harder, but I figure actually ensuring Onii-sama and all the other membes see it with their own eyes makes a much more credible source. "Come on, the suns coming up and this might get uglier than it already is."

"...what..." Right before our eyes, the bloodied corpses of the Roshigumi are fading away to dust, as though there was never anything there at all. "..." Shin-chan's face is white with disbelief and the edge of his jawline slowly tightens. "...what...the...hell..." he swallows and throws the left behind clothing in a pile in the town square. "I need to inform everyone about this. If my instinct Is right, the Roshigumi will be done for. Hehehe..."

I smile slightly at him and start heading towards home. "The sooner we bring them down the better. Letting Kazu's killers run around like that just doesn't sit well with me."

* * *

"S-serizawa...I think they've escaped." One of Niimi's men assigned to guard the experiments of the Ochimizu had paled at the sight of the smashed door and no sign of the inhabitants.

"WHAT?" Serizawa had glared at them angrily with his wolfish face still stuck in its normal grimace "What the hell are you doing? Hurry up and find them! Where the hell is the damned dog now? " He roared angrily and marched off, only for Ibuki to creep in from across the hallway and follow suit, flinching a little as he slid the door open. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd been a little more careful Heisuke." Shinpachi aimed a scowl at Heisuke though it was in a joking manner. Heisuke puckered up his face with annoyance and glared at Shinpachi "Don't just pin the blame on me! Sides, nobody told me Niimi had THIS much guys locked up." He shook his hands as if to shake away the blame and ran off outside the building.

"Well, guess we gotta head out too." Harada gave an unamused Hijkata a shrug and left with Shinpachi yelling at him to wait up. "Tch. Damn Niimi and his carelessness. Leaving me to do the cleanup." The frown permanently etched on his face deepened and he marched off with a few lower ranked members following suit.

"Souji!"

The brown haired was standing amid a pool of blood, his hand on his chin in a thoughtful gesture. "Looks like somebody else beat us." He crossed his arms and looked smugly at Hijakata "Well! Now what?"

The Roshigumi Vice-captain's face was pinched in a dark scowl as he grit his teeth in anger. "Ask around. See if there were any witnesses. Those experiments wouldn't have killed themselves on their own. " He briefly surveyed the area, most of the telltale signs a swordfight had taken place were there, though...the one thing that was out of place was the remains of the Rasetsu,

"Yamazaki."

The loyal ninja companion answered almost immediately "yes?" HIjkata remained staring ahead at the mess of bloodied clothing " Keep a close eye on Niimi and Serizawa's movements. Make sure not a single word of this gets out to the public."

"Understood." Yamazaki nodded for emphasis and sped off.

"I suppose it's fortunate that their corpses disintegrated once the sun came up." Harada looked cheerful as ever but his face quickly turned serious "...well, about the rest of them."

Hijikata felt a vein in his forehead snap. "What is it? Spill it." He sighed and looked expectantly at Harada who shrugged, being used to Hijikata's moodiness and pointed a finger carelessly towards the town square. A small crowd was gathering around a makeshift podium upon which a bloodied and torn Roshigumi haori lay covered in blood and remnants of dust. Dust. A million questions and possible scenarios, all of them bad whirled around in his head.

"Uhh, Toshi?

"Quiet." The older male snapped angrily at Heisuke who shrugged and waved the crowd away. He muttered something angrily to himself and called up the rest of the Roshigumi "Someone else knows about _that._ Ask around for information. Do whatever it takes."

* * *

"Look, just sell it to me! You stupid jiji!"

I sigh to myself and continue the delicate task of selecting fresh fish for tonight's dinner. Arguments and sometimes fights are commonplace among customers who purchase things from the dodgy merchants here.

"Argh! What's your problem?"

That voice sounds familiar. I turn around slightly and see none other than Ibuki-kun glaring daggers at Tago-san the artisan who is smugly clamping his rather meaty hand over a row of inkpots. "Psh, why the hell would I sell my wares to a brat like you who doesn't have any respect? eh?"

"Tago-san! You must not discriminate against your customers! It is not fair to do so!" Kosuzu appears from out of nowhere and yells loudly, despite having a petite frame. The entire marketplace becomes temporarily silent before continuing with the daily routine.

"H-heh, you're right oujo-chan. Alright, you can have it. "Tago-san snatches the coins from Ibuki-san's palm and practically tosses the inkpot at his face. "you better thank oujo-chan here. Psh"

He shoots another glare at Ibuki and quickly switches to his 'I'm a jolly salesman' mode when another customer shows up. Kosuzu is still standing there and looking at Ibuki silently.

"Huh, must be nice being a maiko. As long as you sleep with a man, he'll treat you well and give you money. He must have recognised you. " He tucks the inkpot into his pouch and looks roughly at Kosuzu who looks taken aback. Oh boy, you've just signed your death warrant Boya. "Ibuki-san." Kosuzu's lower lip is trembling with rage and she rolls up the sleeve on her right arm with steady determination.

"..what?" His head suddenly turns violently to the left as Kosuzu slaps him as hard as she can with her right hand, leaving a deep red imprint of her dainty palm on his cheek.

"uuufff!..." He falls to the ground and tumbles dramatically, rolling once and hitting his head on a table before crouching in an awkward position. "...y-y-you.." I can tell he's trying his best not to cry, especially since curious onlookers are starting to gather. "...tch." He unsteadily stands up, his knees knocking together as he scowls at a somewhat bemused Kosuzu .

"..Forgive me.." She presses her hand gently against his cheek, filling in the red handprint she had made just moments before. "... Though I advise you to avoid speaking ill of people, especially if you are still lacking in understanding about them. Farewell." She spares him a final look and walks off elegantly into the crowd. Everyone parts ways for her to slip through, looking at her fleeing back in silence then back at Ibuki-kun with expectation.

"..." Ibuki is staring, speechless. His hand slowly travels to his red cheek and stays there, as if doing that will conjure up Kosuzu again. Come on Ibuki-kun, now's your chance to run after her and apologise! I silently cheer him on, but the dense idiot is just standing doe eyed at Kosuzu's back which gets tinier by the second. Ugh, I can't take it any longer.

"Ibuki-kun." I march out from among the crowd and grab him by the wrist. "Come with me." He stared bug eyed at me and allows himself to be dragged off. "Man, you should know better than that. Didn't Kosuzu tell you herself that she's a MAIKO not a GEIKO?"

"huh?" He looks at me with confusion "...how do you know about that Osho-san?" I momentarily stop in my tracks and resist the urge to slam my head repeatedly against the wall. How could I be so careless! Letting something like that slip...ugh..."A-ahaha. Well Kosuzu-chan and I are somewhat acquaintances and I happened to hear about that from her." I glance sideways at Ibuki-kun who seems to have accepted my excuse. Whew, safe for now. "Say, Ibuki-kun, do you like Kosuzu?"

Ibuki-kun makes a strangled choking noise and looks angrily at me with his face all red. "Tsk. NO! W-why would I like somebody who slaps me for making a mistake. " he shakes his head and flings my hand off "S-sorry Osho-san. I should go. Serizawa-dono might be angry."

"ah, Ibu-" He runs off before I can remind him to apologise to Kosuzu. This really is unlike me. Why am I even getting myself further involved? I've got more things on my plate without needing to play matchmaker for someone.

**~x~x~x~**

"Ryunosuke-kun, if you like her, do something about it." Harada claps a hand onto his shoulder and squeezes it in a friendly manner.

"N-no! What do you think you're doing?!" Being much weaker and shorter than Harada, Ryunosuke had no choice but to let himself be dragged all the way to Kosuzu's home at the maiko establishment. "..please...don't.." his whispered begging was completely ignored.

"Alright, Go up to her and apologise. That's what a real man would do." Ryunosuke shook his head violently and attempted to run away. "*sigh*" Harada grabbed him by the collar and proceeded to call out Kosuzu.

"Kosuzu-san!" Harada knocked on the door, stepping back as Kosuzu opened it slowly and bowed. Her eyes darted around nervously before noticing Ryunosuke's cowering figure, whereupon she frowned slightly and turned down the corners of her mouth. "you..are...from the other day.."

"That's right, I'm Harada Sanosuke from the Roshigumi. My friend here has something to say to you." As soon as he said that, Harada grabbed a startled Ryunosuke by the neck and pushed him into the seiza position onto the ground, making his head touch the ground. "He wants to apologise for what he said to you yesterday. Please hear him out."

Kosuzu's hands tightened against the frame of the door but she said nothing, only allowing a nervous Ryunosuke to see her cold gaze. "It does not matter anymore. I cannot see any sincerity within him. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I am a maiko, I dance and pour drinks to entertain customers instead of selling my body. "

"...i.." Still being held down in a submissive position by Harada, Ryunosuke clenched his hands and raised his head slowly "K-kosuzu-san...I...was an idiot. I never realised or thought about that. For saying something so...insulting like that. I-I-I'm so sorry!" He bowed his head down low and remained that way until the faintest hint of a smile blossomed on Kosuzu's face.

"I see." She gently placed a hand on his stinging cheek "I am glad you understand now...forgive me for striking you like that. "

"N-no! It's fine! I'm the one who deserved it! Y-you don't need to apologise at all Kosuzu-san!" he turned redder than ever and began flapping his hands around which made her giggle lightly. "uh...um..T-tell Nanaya-san I said t-thank you!"

"Then I suppose everything is alright between us then." Kosuzu smiled and placed a hand on her cheek "..ara?.. Nanaya-san?..I have not seen her lately. Not even at Shimabara, perhaps she has been assigned somewhere else? I apologise Ibuki-san, but I shall pass on your message when I see her next." She bowed deeply and left.

The door shut gently and the two men stared at it in silence, thoughts whirling around their minds before Harada spoke first. "Say...have you ever seen Nanaya before?"

Ryunosuke looked confused at Sanosuke and shook his head "..no?. T-then again, I don't really visit Shimabara very often." he blushed slightly and scuffed his foot on the ground, hoping that his manliness wouldn't be questioned.

"hmm." Sanosuke had a thoughtful expression on his face "Well, I'm practically a regular and that was the first time I saw her. Though, doesn't something seem off about her?" He stood up straight and stretched a little while Ryunosuke peeled himself off the ground. "..um..no?"

"It's almost impossible for Kosuzu not to have seen her around at Shimabara." A curious expression flickered across his face as he chuckled "Also, her hands...were very unusual." he raised his own hands up and glanced at the calloused, scarred skin gained from years of wielding his yari. "Compared to a maiko, she had the hands of a labourer . I have a feeling this Nanaya woman may be more than what she seems."

"...I...guess." Not exactly understanding what was going on, Ibuki shrugged and stared wistfully at the doors before turning to leave. Things would be different. _Next _time.


	4. The discordant song

**Well... I was informed that there IS a Hakuoki spin-off called Urakata Hakuoki which focuses on the anti-Bakufu side! 0^0 How did I NOT knowww! *pouts* (Aoi! waiii!) but teehee funny how the premise of my fic is similar to it...*cough* anyways.. ah! My other ocs (Takasugi Shinsaku, Sakamoto Ryoma...etc.) look different to the Otomate versions (obviously!) My Shinsaku is based on the Toukiden mitama (hawt~) *ahem* Letsa goo!**

* * *

_" Kiri-chan. I think the higanbana is a beautiful flower too." He bends down so that we are at eye level and pats my head "It can also mean 'independence and passion'. Traits that you have."_

_"..." My older sister Otome takes the higanbana out from the vase and tosses them onto the ground "It's a flower of death Yugiri. Choose something else, hmm, the yuri is a nice one. Let's pick that one instead"_

_"See? Onee-sama, he thinks so too!"_

_Otome Onee-sama tucks a strand of hair behind her right ear and sighs "You...stop spoiling her like that. She's already troublesome as it is."_

_"Haha" he laughs. I always liked his laughter. "It's fine. Kiri-chan is perfect the way she is. Promise me you won't change ok? Kiri-chan?" He sticks out his pinky towards me and smiles "Promise?"_

_Without hesitating, I wrap my tiny pinky around his and smile "I promise! Kirino Onii-chan!"_

Oops. I ended up dozing off again.

I head quickly towards the front door, peeking through the slit between the wooden door frame to see a handsome blonde man staring directly at me from the outside. "Ah, Chikage-dono!" The blond haired man looks disinterestedly at me and turns away with a barely whispered 'hmph' of disdain. I hurriedly unbolt the door and notice his attendants are mysteriously absent; though knowing him it would be wise not to ask.

"Where is Ryoma-san?" He folds his arms and looks around, hoping to get his business over and done with. I frantically glance around the house, hopefully it isn't too messy since I haven't cleaned up today. Thankfully I already brought in the laundry so nothing embarrassing is out in the open. "..mm?" My eyes follow his line of vision as he gazes with curiosity at the brush painting pinned to the wall. It's the one Ibuki-kun gave me, of a white haired man with horns slashing something with his sword. "hmm? This painting? A friend painted it for me..." I point awkwardly at it, hoping to get rid of this very tense atmosphere "You know, it seems to resemble the Onryo...the ah rumours that have been spreading.."

"Hmph. Nothing more than pathetic imitations of the real thing." He shakes his head and seats himself down on Onii-sama's chair, tsk, how rude! Though since Onii-sama isn't here...I guess he can sit there. Wait, so he already knew about the Onryo? and what did he mean by 'real thing'? I turn my head away from the teapot and look at him with my mouth wide-open. "So you kn—"

"Oni. That's what they claim to be." He spits out the words like the mere mention of the Onryo or whatever would permanently dirty his mouth. " Nothing more than a mockery. Humans are so presumptuous."

"Oni? are... real?"I set down my teacup and look incredulously at him, he stares back at me with no emotion on his face but a hint of annoyance and exasperation is in his eyes. "Of course. Mere humans like you wouldn't be aware of the existence of superior beings such as myself."

"So...you're an oni?" Onii-Sama used to tell me stories about oni when I was younger, one of my favourites had been the fact that they were weak against beans...perhaps now was a more opportune time than ever to test out that theory. I grab a handful of beans from the bowl on the table and toss them at Chikage-dono. "..." I watch them fly into the air and slowly descend with focus, something interesting might happen. Would he get set alight? disappear?

Instead, they fall carelessly to the ground as Chikage-dono brushes them off his arms with a look of disdain. "What the hell were you expecting?"

I watch the rest of the beans roll around on the ground and bow my head apologetically "I'm sorry Chikage-dono. I was under the assumption that beans would dispel oni...which is why I wanted to test the theory...umm..against you. hahaha..ha? ah! I'm so sorry!"

"..." There is an incredibly awkward silence as Chikage-dono sips his tea and pretends I don't exist. In the meantime, I am desperately trying to figure out how I can appease the frozen wrath of the Angry One.

"..erm..so how do you know about the..ah...fake oni?" To be honest, I AM curious about how the fake oni suddenly popped up. Actually, maybe I should have asked Chikage-dono if he was joking when he mentioned he was an oni? I had seen photos of white haired men in the West so there was a possibility that - *clack*

Chikage-dono places the teacup onto the table and looks at me with a 'fill-this-up-pronto' look...which I oblige to and he takes his damn sweet time drinking it up. "There's a medicine, known as the 'Ochimizu' which once consumed transforms a human into a copy of an oni. Your brother has asked me to report whatever I knew on the matter." he pauses and looks towards the empty hallway "where is he?"

"..Ah..well.." I cringe and avoid any form of eye contact "Onii-sama is away in Osaka on business."

The atmosphere within the room instantly drops to a temperature so cold I bet the hot water froze up. Chikage-dono sucks in his breath softly, though to me it sounds like a typhoon blasting through my house. Kamisama...save me from Chikage-dono's wrath... *gulp* I lift my head up slowly and turn to face Chikage-dono.

"..." If looks could kill, I would be dead right now. _'why the hell did you wait until now to tell me? How dare a human like you waste my time? and wtf were you thinking throwing your smelly beans at me?" _His eyes seem to scream that out to me. Gulp. "..." He glares at me with an expression that could turn hot coals into ice and stands up slowly "...Tell your brother I will pay him a visit once he returns."

"Uh..yes. Sorry about that Chikage-dono." I bow politely and follow him to the door, locking it securely as he exits and lean against the wall with relief. I guess Shin-chan was able to inform everyone else about the Onryo-no the Oni. Now that we have an idea of what they are, gathering evidence on how they link to the Roshigumi will be much easier, especially since Chikage-dono is also one...wait...Chikage-dono is an oni?

"Chikage-dono is an oni." I repeat that to myself a few times, slowly allowing the reality to sink in. Hmm, Chikage-dono certainly didn't seem like the type of person to joke around. " Chikage-dono is an oni!"

"Oh. So you know?" Someone speaks from behind me. Huh? I thought I was the only one at home.

"Hwah!" I let out a squawk and whirl around to smack my head right into Shin-chan's chest and somehow bury myself within his kimono. "Geez, it's unlike you to be so affectionate." He pats my head mockingly, making me more entangled within his kimono and having a change of heart helps me up. "Anyways, I've got a message to pass onto you, himegimi." He smirks and tries to hide his laughter. Unfortunately he fails and ends up cackling for a good 10 minutes. "Karyu-san from Shimabara has something to say to you. Fufufu, something about compensation for hurting a customer?"

I groan loudly and pinch his nose " You know I can't help it...geez Shin-chan." He responds by patting my head like a kid and nodding " Ehh, that's because I know Kiri-chan well. It's just...you don't need to go there yourself Kiri-chan. We've got more than enough girls helping out already."

"I'm not a kid! and besides, I can easily handle gross jijis. Later Shin-chan!" I give him a brief hug and head off to Shimabara. Gathering information this way is something only I can do, therefore I have a reason to do so.

~x~x~x~

"So. You decided to come back?" Karyu-san folds her arms and scoffs "Really. You're more suited to be a man than a woman. Honestly, what is Shinsaku-kun thinking le-"

"Yeah yeah, I get it baba." I wave her away and get walk towards the hallway, hmm I wonder if I'll be able to sneak a few rounds of sake before guests start coming?

"Yuu-chan!" An overexcited girl's voice calls out to me before I am partially strangled by thin arms and tumble to the ground. "Yuu-chan!"

"..iitaii!" I rub my head and peel off the hyper girl hugging my leg. Tsuyo, one of the younger maiko and a spy working for us. Tsuyo's eyes widen and she bows her head apologetically "sowwy! but you're fine aren't you Yuu-chan?" I give her a slow nod and sigh before she can burst into tears.

"Yuu-chan. A word of warning. Do you know Harada-san? The captain in the Roshigumi?" Her warm brown eyes stare unblinkingly at me with an aura of seriousness she hardly ever shows. I nod and shrug my shoulders "The Roshigumi guy right? what about him?"

"He came by the other day asking for you. and..." She hesitated and looked slowly at me "He'll be coming by again today as well. Please don't do anything that will ..umm...draw attention to us or the fact that we're assisting the Emperor...or anything that might be an inconvenience to Takasugi-sama." she twists her hands together nervously and bites her lip. Haha, another girl in love with Shin-chan. Well, isn't he the lucky guy, practically every girl who lays their eyes on him falls in love and becomes a devout fangirl. I shrug and pinch Tsuyo-chan's cheek."haha. ..is...that...so...? Don't worry Tsuyo-chan. Besides, Karyu-san is right. I'm far more suited to the blood and grime of the battlefield." I give her a forced reassuring smile and nod my head confidently" _ with Shin-chan. Everyone acts like he's the chosen one."_

~x~x~x~

Great. An unfortunately familiar face shows up. A certain middle-aged pervert named Serizawa who happens to be the leader of the Roshigumi. Not to mention his pack of rabid dogs have come to join him. After the Kosuzu harassment incident, somehow her popularity skyrocketed among the Roshigumi and well...Karyu-san decided to group our spies together with Kosuzu as it was the best method of gathering information. Unfortunately, that's doubled the amount of perverted old men I've had to deal with, though I suppose the benefits DID outweigh the losses. For the greater good. I guess. *sigh*

"Heh..Na~Na~Yaaaa..." A drunken Serizawa leers at me and winks over his overflowing sake cup. I plaster a serene smile over my face and bow stiffly at him "Yes? ah. More sake?" I reach for the bottle to refill his cup, resisting the urge to spit into it and prepare to refill his already empty cup. Ara, the man drinks sake like a vacuum. Witholding my temptation to pour the bottle onto his head, I edge as close as possible and pour delicately into the tiny cup in his meaty hands "...hehehe.." He places his arm around my shoulder and grins. "..." _Stay calm Yugiri. Deep breaths, . three. Just be patient, you'll be able to humiliate him later. _Chanting mentally to myself, I manage to endure the weight of his heavy arm and stench worthy breath.

"...Please withdraw your arm. Serizawa-sama." I look coolly at him and slowly remove his hand from venturing too far "Do remember that I am only authorised to pour drinks and perform non-contact entertainment."

"heh? Like I care!" He staggers drunkenly towards me with a wild look in his eyes. Great! I needed to let off some steam anyways. I grab the shamisen leaning against the wall and cough meaningfully at him. The erojiji doesn't get the message and staggers closer to me, his hands outstretched and cupped together.

~x~X~x~

"Hey!" Harada and Hijikata rise up from their seats and prepare to charge the drunk Serizawa down. Honestly, do they think they'll be able to reach the drunkard in time?

"Tsk." I flip the shamisen around and smack it as hard as I can onto the erojiji's head. "guuuuh..." It clonks onto his head with a satisfying thump and he rolls unconscious onto the floor. "Hmph." I drop the broken shamisen onto his knocked out body and give him a kick while throwing my head back and laughing "That'll teach you. Kisama."

"..." The room has fallen silent and I slowly scan my eyes around the room, the realization of what I have done barely sinking in.

Everyone stares at me in silence *twang* The shamisen makes a sad mewing sound as the last string snaps and falls onto the floor next to Serizawa. Kosuzu and Tsuyo are hugging each other in fear with tears about to spill from their eyes. One of the other girls Kikka, has fainted dead away. Ibuki is staring at Kosuzu and probably wishing he was the one to knock out Serizawa. There's a time and place to play hero boya.

Hijikata looks embarrassed, though I can't blame him in this situation. The girl with the Roshigumi is staring bug-eyed at me. Weird, she's dressed as a guy. Okita is laughing silently with tears streaming down his cheeks while Toudou is giggling along with him. Saito is as blank as always. Huh, a model samurai eh? and as for the red-haired akuma? he's...next to me?

"Are you alright?" There is genuine concern in his face as he looks worriedly at me. Geez, you should be more worried about Serizawa buddy. Instead, I groan softly to myself and make shooing motions with my hands "I'm fine. Thanks for your unneeded concern." I cross my arms and take a step back "This sort of thing happens all the time. I can handle things on my own."

Well, that seemed to be the wrong answer because he grips my hand and makes me face him "You're a woman. Just leave the protecting to the men." His golden eyes glint with determination. The sort of determination which translates to 'I-will-protect-you-so-stay-back-and-be-a-damsel-in-distress'. Exactly the sort of thing I DO NOT need. At all.

"Hmm, if I can recall correctly. It was a man that did the molesting. Correct?" I look coldly at him and smirk a little as he falters and shakes his head "Even so, let me handle it next time."

Oho, is that a 'women are weak' statement I hear? oh boy, you're messing with the wrong girl here. I, Sakamoto Yugiri may be a woman, but I most definitely am not weak. The nerve of him. How dare he say something like that? For a brief moment I contemplate slapping him in the face a la Kosuzu style but settle for a good old right hook .

"Ara, well allow me to thank you IN ADVANCE!" I pull my right fist back and slam it into his face. Ouch, seems like his face is also just as well built as the rest of his body, but I send him crashing to the ground. "Cheh, just as bad as your superior." He falls onto his butt and crashes into the tables set in front of Saito and Okita. The latter stare back in silence before Okita cracks up laughing.

"..haha..." Harada rubs his cheek and starts laughing "hahahaha!" He stays seated awkwardly on the ground and slaps his knee "You're the first woman to bring me down this way."

"Oh? Well I certainly am not the kind of woman who would bring you down using pillow tactics." I look smugly back at him and make a show of dusting off my (aching) hands. "...and there WON'T be a next time." I stab my index finger towards him with disgust "You don't need to get involved. _honoured guest._ I don't want-no, I don't NEED your help._" _I sniff and turn back to the audience, well everyone who is watching us in silence. "Everyone, I'm sorry about this. Please enjoy your evening." I kneel down and bow politely with a huge fake smile plastered on my face.

Nobody says a word until Kosuzu the sweetie giggles awkwardly and holds up the sake bottle "Shall I pour you a drink?" Well, I guess I'll leave now..while things are getting back to normal.

"Y-yes!" Ibuki-kun raises his cup and turns beet red as Kosuzu goes over to serve him. "...thanks." he manages to mumble something under his breath before glancing over at Kosuzu. She smiles sweetly at him and sets the bottle down. "Nanaya-san is very admirable isn't she?"

Geez. She's so naïve. I sigh and slide the door as quietly as I can before an 'ahem' catches my attention. I look up slowly to see none other than the demon queen staring at me. oh kamisama...help me...

"..." Karyu-san looks silently at me and slowly flicks me in the forehead "Yugiri-san. Please don't ever come by again." She brings her pipe to her lips and exhales slowly "You knew very well that there a things you can and cannot do while working undercover at Shimabara. As such, I have no wish to jeopardise myself or any of our allies. Understand?"

I nod slowly and can't conjure up words to answer back "...uh Karyu-san. I'm sorry. Really. I should have known something like this isn't suitable for me...even though I wanted to help..hahaha..." I scratch my head awkwardly and pull the loose kanzashi off my hair "Guess I should stick to the battlefield . right?"

"Quite right." Karyu-san smiles wryly and whirls around to leave "Feel free to come by and visit anytime."

"huh?" Didn't she just ban me from coming to Shimabara? It's impossible for the old hag to go back on her word! Never, never has she ever done something like this. Well, I guess she IS old so her memory could be failing.

"Shizu-chan has taken quite a liking to you. I think it's best for the both of us she continues to have a source of motivation..after all..." she stops talking and walks off quickly leaving the rest of her sentence unspoken. "_After all, Shizu's mother is an important benefactor to Shimabara."_


	5. The moon's gradual darkening

_**Gyaaahh! I'm sorry for the super delay! anyways~ here's a long update! and I've played through a bit of Hakuouki Urakata..which is SO AWESOME! waaay better than the horrific excuse for a hack-n-slash Hakuokui: warriors of the Shinsengumi was _ , like I cleared the whole thing in one day on max difficulty without getting hit once *facepalm*Ahh! I'm blabbing again...Izo-kun is now my new squishy! *squishes him* aaand chapter start!**_

_*** I've changed the story title (cos Mei is indecisive :3...) **_

* * *

**~The moon's gradual darkening ~**

"-and I was like 'come on, that all you can do?" and then *pfft* the Roshigumi guy just starts crying and begging for mercy!" Shiranui-san roars with laughter and smacks Shin-chan heartily on the back as everyone else, including me laugh along with him. The mood in the room feels more like a party or something, mostly since whenever Shin-chan and Shiranui-san are together they end up fooling around like idiots. These afternoons when we all do nothing but just relax and enjoy the moments of temporal peace are the best. Personally, I like them because we're all together, but obviously it'd be too embarrassing to say that out loud. "Honestly, don't you think if they wanted to recruit proper fighters, they'd have only picked the strongest men?" I pour myself another drink and help myself to some manju from the bowl , swallowing it quickly before I continue speaking "It's like they've gotten so desperate to boost their numbers that they're picking poor kids off the street and parading them around with new uniforms and swords.!"

"Nah, it's just that you're too strong your judgement is warped." Shiranui-san laughs loudly and pours Shin-chan another drink before leaning back against the wall "Even I'd have trouble against someone of your calibre. Reminds me, we should spar again sometime. Hmm?"

Before I can make a witty comeback, the door slides open softly as an elegant woman dressed in a fine furisode steps into the already crowded room. "..." She dips her head in greeting and delicately begins removing the makeup on her face as soon as she sits down at the table. "Sorry for the intrusion."

The moment that unnaturally low manly voice emerges from her red painted lips, smirks fly around the room as everyone exchanges a look and snicker discreetly. That is, except for Shiranui-san and Shin-chan. "*pfftt* AHAHAHAA! Katsura, that you?" The half full bottle of sake in Shiranui-san's hands drop to the floor, (only to be snatched from smashing by Shin-chan) as he cracks up with laughter while pointing a finger at the unamused looking Katsura Kogoro. "*sigh*" the 'woman' moves from next to Shin-chan to next to me and undoes her kimono so that the upper half hangs downwards, exposing 'her' well sculpted body. Suppressing the urge to spit out my drink, I scull the rest of my cup and jab a finger towards Katsura Kogoro. "GORO-nii! That's my missing kimono!"

I shake with rage as he smiles calmly and removes the ornaments tying his hair up and letting his beautiful silky hair flow gently down his back. "There was some information Shin urgently needed confirmation for, so I had no choice but to hastily disguise myself. Forgive me for borrowing your clothing without permission. " He reaches a hand into the obi and withdraws a pretty looking hairpin "Here, as compensation Yugiri. It was a gift from a customer."

The hairpin is finely made, and despite how nice it is, it's something a person like me would have no use for; after all, what's the use of prettying yourself when all you'll be doing is killing and maiming others? Even when I dress up for Shimabara spy work, or at least used to, all the dressup and accessories were, in the end for a bloody cause. "No thanks. Give that to someone else who'd appreciate it more." I push it back towards him and press it into his palm "Those sort of things are wasted on me. Why not give it to Setsura instead?" I shove it back as he once again attempts to give it to me and grab Shin-chan's freshly filled up sake cup "besides, since that's one of my favourite kimono, a nice new gun would be a much better gift. Don't you think Goro-nii?"

"*Sigh* Still as boyish as ever Yugiri-kun. Honestly, I thought all girls your age were into that sort of thing." Kogoro-nii shakes his head disapprovingly at Shin-chan "Being around someone as carefree and irresponsible as Shinsaku-san must be a bad influence." Shin-chan just laughs and shrugs "Hey now, stop acting like an old aunty. Anyway, shall we get down to business?" Kogoro-nii hands him a small box from which he takes out a tiny vial containing a red liquid. Everyone inches closer for a better look as Shiranui-san chuckles and shakes the tiny vial teasingly in front of us "Ever seen this before? Looks harmless eh?"

I shuffle slowly from my position right opposite the room when Shiranui-san tosses the vial towards me and I clap my palm around it with surprise, a deep red liquid almost like blood sloshes around inside the tiny glass container as I shake it around. "What's this meant to be? blood?"

"Ochimizu. It's an elixir I managed to get off Glover-san, the gaijin merchant. Anyway, the Bakufu have managed to get ahold of this and they've joined up with a certain doctor to manufacture more of these bad boys." Shiranui-san shakes his head as he shrugs his shoulders "seriously, what are they thinking? Anyway, basically drinking this will transform a human into an oni clone. You might know them as 'Rasetsu."

My head is currently swimming with confusion as I try to process all this new information. One, 'oni' are supposed to be mythical creatures like kitsune and tengu, right? If so, why then is everyone here just accepting Shiranui-san's explanation so easily? Two. Assuming oni are real , then if the Bakufu is trying to manufacture oni clones aka their Rasetsu, shouldn't we be doing something to stop it? "Shiranui-san, was that what Chikage-dono was talking about that time with Onii-sama?"

"Hey hey, just call me Kyo. it's easier that way. " Shiranui-san, or Kyo nods and points towards the bottle with a look of disgust on his face "Yeah, Chikage told Ryoma everything he knew. Long story short, these rasetsu can self-heal, are weak to sunlight and however injuries inflicted with silver won't be healed. Your best shot at finishing them off is a fatal headshot" he cocks his pistol mimicking the act of blowing a Rasetsu's head off " They're still much stronger than a normal human though, buut, you guys have a good chance."

I cross my arms and look at him "Ok, so assuming that Chikage-dono and you guys aren't messing with me, oni have the ability to self heal along with superior abilities compared to humans. and...that's why the Bakufu are trying to turn their men into Rasetsu?"

"Correct." Kogoro-nii speaks first and the atmosphere descends into silence. "..." If things weren't already difficult enough with _human_ enemies, but now things like oni and rasetsu were involved as well? "argh...this is so difficult." I mutter under my breath as Kogoro-nii chuckles and shrugs "We're not entirely without help though, for we have true oni on our side. Finding a countermeasure should be simple. Besides-"

I never got to hear what he had to say since that moment the door goes flying open and a red haired ball of energy leaps onto the table. The new arrival helps himself to the remainder of manju and squishes himself between Kogoro-nii and myself. Nobody bats an eyelid since we're all used to Okada Izo's frantic and childish behaviour. "*munch* I was just killing some ronin before!" he licks his fingers happily and steals the manju I'm about to put into my mouth. "*munch* You know, the Roshigumi have been increasing patrols lately, *munch* that's why I've been so busy lately. But! They're so weak its kinda boring. You should join me again sometime Kiricchi" He wipes his sticky fingers onto Goro-nii's, or to be more accurate, my kimono and stretches leisurely , ignoring the fact that Goro-nii is frantically trying to get rid of the food stains from my kimono.

"You know, it still amazes me how someone as childish and transparent as you is one of the hitokiri." Goro-nii sighs and folds my partially destroyed kimono neatly across his lap as Izo-kun begins stacking the sake cups up high. "Anyway, regarding the matter at hand, I've heard rumours of internal unrest within the Roshigumi ranks. Basically, they're split into two separate factions. One side supports Serizawa Kamo, and the other is in favour of Kondo Isami."

Serizawa is a face I'm _somewhat _ well acquainted with while Kondo is one who I've only caught glimpses of from time to time. Though based on the information I've heard, while Serizawa leads the Roshigumi, many members respect him either out of fear , intimidation or debt and Kondo on the other hand is a natural born leader who most of the powerful Roshigumi members are fiercely loyal towards. "So, in other words, there's a power struggle? I bet the Kondo faction will try to eliminate Serizawa at some point and take over the Roshigumi with Kondo as the new leader."

Izo-kun jolts upright as the tower of sake cups falls to the ground, rolling everywhere and blinks with surprise. "Ah ! I heard about that too. Maybe we should get rid of Serizawa and blame it on Kondo's faction. The Roshigumi will be in turmoil." He taps his sheathed sword gently on his shoulders, his eyes gleaming with excitement while Goro-nii and Shin-chan frown with concentration. "No. That's not something we should do in this situation. They'll probably use us as an excuse to declare an official war...and we can't do that. It'll put our comrades in danger."

Izo hangs his head in disappointment and groans "ahhh~ but I'm kinda bored here. Oh well, we can go hunting the rasetsu anytime right?" He grins widely and laughs "that should be ok since swords are used to protect and I'll be protecting people by killing them~" Shin-chan narrows his eyes and thinks for a moment "Hmmm. We still shouldn't make a move now. The chances of us being cornered are high."

"Agreed." Kogoro-nii nods his head in agreement "The best course of action at the moment is to wait and see. Though we'll need confirmation on when the assassination will take place." he rubs his forehead deep in thought and the atmosphere turns serious again "*geh*" Izo-kun chokes loudly and begins coughing as his face reddens. "Pssh! That's why you gotta slow down when eating, kid!" Shiranui-san, I mean Kyo laughs at him and everyone bursts out laughing with Izo-kun staring blankly at them.

"...I don't get it." he frowns and coughs a few more times. "was it something I said?"

**~X~X~X~**

"I'm sorry about borrowing your kimono like that."

I shrug and wave a hand carelessly "It's all in the past now. Besides Shin-chan was cracking up so hard! Kyo too! Onii-sama doesn't laugh as much as they do so it's nice!"

"...haha..." Kogoro-nii smiles and laughs quietly "You still haven't told him your feelings?" I freeze in place and whirl around to face him "..told who _what?_" My voice rises to a squeak as I feel my cheeks turning red against my will, Kogoro-nii just smiles and shakes his head knowingly "You like Shinsaku-san don't you?" He slows his pace to match mine and stays quiet while I stutter and mumble to myself "...uh...wha...ehh..well...i...maybe...bu...wa...how?" I lower my gaze at my feet, watching with concentration as my foot rises and drops onto the ground with every step I take. The usual sounds of people going about their daily business surrounds me as Kogoro-nii thinks to himself. Fine, ignore me while I'm squirming in embarrassment. I click my tongue and look around the streets, we've somehow veered off from the normal route and instead we're going the long way through the trading district. "..Hmm...well it's pretty obvious...from an outsider's perspective at least." He chuckles as I feel my face burn hotter than before and mutter some gibberish in response . "Only you and Shinsaku-san are unaware. He's always off in his own world and you're...dense." I open my mouth to protest but he waves a hand apologetically "I mean that only in terms of relationships...anyway, if you don't tell him soon, either one of you will be snatched away by another."

I laugh a little too loudly at this "*pfft* Shin-chan with another person I can understand, since he's the ideal man. but me? *pfft* nobody would be interested in a manly woman like me..who...whose only use is as a weapon against the Bakufu...besides..." I shove my hands through my sleeves and stare at the ground in embarrassment "I don't want to ruin our current relationship as brother and sister...I'm happy with things staying the same way right now...huh?" Kogoro-nii holds my hand gently and pats my head "You're a very kind person Yugiri-kun. Maybe it's time you were selfish for once." I snort and brush my hair back to normal while trying to hide the smile on my face "ah~ you worry too much Goro-nii! I'm a warrior before I am a woman." he sighs as I break free and skip off down the road, bowing in greeting to all the people passing by though the inside of my head is spinning. How...does everyone know I like Shin-chan? I don't behave any differently around him do I? and as for people liking me? the thought makes me laugh. The last man I had been with was a weirdo. Despite being told I was only using him to forget about my first love, he was still happy with it. Well, strange people do exist after all. If a woman as horrible, selfish and petty as Oyuki could get married and have a child as cute as Kosuzu, I suppose. Sighing to myself, I stop and stare as we pass a very familiar building. The red roof and the white front are still the same, though the sign at the front has been repainted and now hangs at a crooked angle. Quickening my pace as I walk closer to the entrance, I grit my teeth as the door slams open and someone I don't want to see notices me.

"ah! Yugiri-neesan!" A young boy in his late teens drops the sack of rice onto the ground, ignoring the yells of anger from the old man within the building and rushes towards us. I recognise him as Mimegumi Yukinari...Kazu's younger brother; and give him the brightest smile I can manage. "Yuki-kun! Have you been eating well?" Kazuo-ojiichan been well? and Mitsu-chan?" I pat him affectionately on the head and pinch his cheek while he whines with fake protest "yeah yeah, I've been fine nee-san. Jii-chan's back has been hurting so I've been helping out with the deliveries!" he rubs his nose proudly and puffs his chest with pride as I pinch his cheek again "That's amazing Yuki-kun!" he grins and smacks his chest "Just you wait nee-san! I'll be even manlier than ani-ue and marry you! ah!" his eyes widen at something behind me and I calmly stay where I am, waiting for the moment to strike. "KANCHO!" I swerve to the right as a set of tiny fingers fly past my leg and slam into the ground. "...uwaah!" The owner of the fingers, a little boy of around 8 years old pouts as he sits up and glares at me with tears trickling down his cheeks. "...you're too fast. " he sniffles and hugs the legs of Yuki-kun, his face peeking out from between his older brother's legs. "onee-chan...you're so mean!"

I bend down to face him and bow my head apologetically, children can be blunt and brutally honest. In other ways, he was right though, it was partially my fault Kazu had died that day so calling me 'mean' was an understatement. I bite my lip and clap my hands together to apologise "yes, onee-chan is very mean. so grow up strong and beat onee-chan up one day alright?" Mitsunari-kun puffs his cheeks and turns to face Kogoro-nii who waves "ah! The ani-neesan!" he screeches and runs off inside the house, peeking through the door with a pouty expression on his face.

"ani-neesan?..." Kogoro-nii sweatdrops and turns to Yuki-kun for an explanation "um, well since Katsura-san looks like a neesan but since I told him to call you 'ani-ue'...well Mitsu gets confused and just calls you that." Kogoro-nii nods slowly and glances at his reflection in the window while mumbling something about looking too feminine and not getting off all the makeup from before. "well...take care of yourself Yuki-kun. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask me. ok?"

He nods and disappears inside, hefting the rice sack onto his shoulders and nodding to me before the door slams shut. I guess it wouldn't hurt to check up on Yuki-kun and Mitsu-kun once in a while, since that's the least I can do to help. "Don't be so hard on yourself." Kogoro-nii pats my back gently and smiles "Come on, you've got a teahouse to manage now don't you?"

I groan and sigh "yes..yes..I haven't forgotten obaa-san. Hmm, didn't Izo say something about someone coming in to pass on some information?" I vaguely remember the redhead mentioning something along those lines in his usual deadpan voice while stuffing his face with sweets. Well, someone as responsible as Kogoro-nii would probably remember. "Ah, that completely slipped my mind. Well, then we should separate now Yugiri-kun." I wave as Kogoro-nii heads off down another road and he quickly rushes back "don't do anything reckless now."

"Ah~ you worry too much! I'll be fine!"

* * *

**~Roshigumi Headquarters~**

The atmosphere within the room the Roshigumi currently used for council meetings was tense as Niimi confirmed the number of Rasetsu had increased. A victorious smile was plastered over the faces of him and Serizawa as their goals of a powerful and hopefully undefeatable army were made closer. The other members present had clear disapproval on their faces, Hijikata's jaw clenched tightly as he rubbed his forehead and cleared his throat "...while this...may have some advantages, I don't approve of the methods used to achieve these results."

"Hah! As if you could come up with a better method!" A smirk crept on Serizawa's wolfish face as he pointed his tessen at Niimi " You can make more of those warriors quickly can't you? Just hurry up with making that elixir."

"Elixir?" Hijikata's eyebrows rose as he turned quickly to the mousey man seated next to Serizawa. Niimi's face twitched slightly as he grunted and crossed his arms "I'm not at liberty to speak with you on how I obtained the original formula. Besides, we have that man who studies western medicine to help don't we?"

"And that same man is currently gone. We also have his daughter here with us , hopefully her presence would assist in locating him." Serizawa only scowled "just how many stray dogs do you intend to house here eh? one mutt is already enough" he aimed a glare at Ryunosuke who flinched and stared at the ground blankly.

Hijikata's patience was running thin as he sighed again "The number of missing persons has increased. While we've been fortunate enough to allow you to experiment on the Choshu and Satsuma criminals, the fact that some innocent civilians may have been cut down by stray Rasetsu is a worry." He glared at Niimi and spoke slowly "I can't condone this sort of behaviour."

"Pssh. Who cares about one or two casualties." Serizawa grinned and waved his tessen idly at the close to exploding Hijikata "As long as the end result is satisfactory, that's all I care about. Gehahahaha!"

"Hey, did you know?" Okita Souji grinned , seemingly oblivious of the current mood of the room and leant back against the wall, his arms folded behind his head "I've hear rumours that Benigawa Oborodzuki has appeared again."

"Benigawa...Oborodzuki?" Ryunosuke narrowed his eyes with confusion and looked to Kondo for further clarification, to which the man kindly obliged. "There are currently 4 individuals who act as mercenaries, though from their past acts; it's safe to say they side with the Emperor. They've gained a reputation for being unparalleled as assassins, hence people refer to them as the '4 legendary hitokiri'. basically..." he scratched his head as Ryunosuke nodded intently for him to continue " Based on what I've heard, there are 3 men, Benigawa Oborodzuki, Okada Izo, Kirino Yukito and one woman, Niou'u Setsura. Out of the 4, the one known as Benigawa Oborodzuki; or the 'red painter' is the most dangerous and skilled."

"I'd like to fight against someone like that. Provided he's real of course." Sanosuke smiled with excitement at the thought of a potentially dangerous fight with a powerful enemy and grinned widely. "Oi, you better leave some for me Sano." Shinpachi laughed and elbowed his friend good naturedly.

* * *

"*sigh* So boring..." I idly polish the teacups and stack them neatly onto the shelf while several of the patrons chat softly amongst themselves. Since I don't see any of the familiar blue and white, I'm guessing that the Roshigumi are probably not coming by today. Makes sense since I heard rumours that Serizawa had been in an unusually foul mood lately. Busying myself with the task of preparing some more tea, I barely register the face of the new customer as I shove the teacup in front of them.

"Ara, the tea is just lovely. Perhaps it's because you know the sensation of death?." The tall woman in front of me smiles mysteriously and sips her tea elegantly "no matter where I go, your tea is unsurpassed Sho-chan." She sets her teacup down onto the table with a light 'clink' and runs her thin fingers around the rim of the cup. "It'd be nice if the girls down at Shimabara could make tea like yours."

"Please don't bother poisoning anyone today. You're just going to cause me huge problems again. Besides, Shimabara is just next door. You're not that lazy are you? " I snatch the cup away from her as she sticks her tongue out and takes another from the customer behind her. He turns bright red and hands it to her, murmuring a 'please , take whatever you like.' while she giggles and bats her eyelids flirtatiously "Niou'u Setsura. Aren't you listening to me, you loose woman?" The veins on my head and possibly all the women in the teahouse threaten to burst as Setsura basks in the envious stares of all the men who look transfixed at her. Not that I don't blame them, Setsura is an incredibly good looking woman and even I find myself staring at her sometimes.

"Oh please. You're no fun at all." She purses her lips and raises her finger slowly so I can see a faint blue hue on the tip of her finger. "I should be the one telling you not to call me by that name as well! " Her long black fringe casts a shadow over her eyes as her pale red lips curl into a smirk "...you know..." She closes her mouth abruptly and sticks her tongue out through the corner of her mouth, licking the tip of her finger like a cat "it's been awhile since all of us have been together in the same place. Kirino, you, me but Izo-kun isn't here right now ...fufufu he's probably cleaning up-"

" Why are you here? _Natsumura Fujiko? _" I slam the kettle lid closed loudly, making Ofuji-obaasan who is sitting in the front to jump in her seat with shock "I'm working at the moment and your presence is ...annoying."

"Forgive me for wanting to share some news." She speaks in a tone dripping with sarcasm and turns away slightly "It seems the wolves will hunt their leader sometime this week. 2 days from now." She pauses and fiddles with her obi as her voice drops to barely a whisper "Saito and Hijikata are in charge of the assassination. Harada, Okita and Toudou are charged with guarding the perimeter and ensuring the number of witnesses are kept minimal."

Her ability to gather information so well sometimes terrifies me. Especially since she's also the type of person who would gleefully use that particular information as a weapon against another. All those times I've been forced to do her bidding flood back to me as I shudder "How...did you find out all this, and in such fine detail?" Setsura only places a thin finger over her lips and giggles seductively as she stands up "fufufu..." As she points her right pinky towards me, her left hand rests gently on her curved hip as she smirks "Before my charms, all men are wrapped around this one finger. Siphoning the information out of them then is child's play...you should try it out sometime." Smiling seductively at me, she sits back down and flicks her long hair over her shoulders, causing the hearts of all her admirers to flutter madly. I facepalm and return to preparing tea for other patrons. I don't have to wait long since the door flies open as Serizawa marches in, flanked by a pissed off Hijikata and blank Saito on either side while Ibuki-kun tip toes meekly in behind them.

"Welcome honoured guests, please make yourselves at home." Reciting the standard greeting and plastering a plastic smile on my face, I bow and sweep my kimono back. "What would you like to order?"

"The usual, woman." Serizawa snaps rudely and sits down heavily, smacking Ibuki-kun as he hurries to the table and shrinks back in his seat. I bow politely and supress the urge to fuse his face with the table, after all I can't do anything to damage Kasamori Tetsu-sama's property can I? I trudge back to the stove and give Hijikata a polite nod. "Teehee...heee." Sitting behind the Roshigumi, Setsura giggles loudly and from the sparkle in her eyes, I just know this will be a difficult situation to control. I subtly motion for her to do nothing, but her smile widens as she winks at me. "Ara, such a handsome man." She swishes over to Hijikata and strokes his face as he almost chokes on his tea and frowns at her. "You must be Hijikata-sama from the Roshigumi..." her eyelashes flutter delicately as she covers her face bashfully and drops her hands slowly, drawing attention to her incredibly low cut kimono, and of course her very impressive assets in all their glory. "...Yes. I am..." Stone-cold Hijikata isn't reduced to a drooling heap as he clears his throat and closes his eyes "...do you perhaps have something you want to say?" Amazing. Even in a situation where a temptress like Setsura is practically forcing herself on him, Hijikata Toshizo can maintain his self-control. I stop what I'm doing and stare enthralled at the scene in front of me, along with everyone else.

"Mmm, I was just curious about this boy here." She swishes over to Ibuki-kun and ruffles his hair playfully as he spits out his tea. "Now why is this pure little boy playing with the men of the Roshigumi?" I pray desperately in my mind for some higher power to perform a miracle and stop the idiot from doing something to draw attention to me. "Hmph." Serizawa smirks and points at him mockingly "This is just a stray puppy I picked up. Useless as he is, he's a damn good artist. Gehehe!" he laughs heartily and smacks Ibuki-kun on the back each time "hey mutt, if you can paint something good enough to impress me, you're free to go."

Setsura giggles and places a finger on Serizawa's mouth as I shudder with revulsion and remind myself to keep my distance from her...ah! Setsura's fingers. Serizawa's mouth. Lips. Poison. Argh! What is that _idiot _ thinking? Attempting to poison a prominent member of the Roshigumi, in broad daylight and in MY teahouse? Since she's the hitokiri known for stealth, I would have expected something far less noticeable than this. "That's a promise! Onii-sama!" she winks at him and turns to face Ibuki-kun who is staring open mouthed at her "...uh...um...I'll be sure to do so..that is...when I...intend to leave.." Saito smiles quietly to himself and sips his tea "I'll make certain to remember as well." Thinking about something to himself, he looks up at Setsura and blinks at her "...I don't suppose we've met before?" She purses her lips and crosses her arms thoughtfully "Ara, I would remember if it's a man as handsome as you, but I wouldn't mind leaving you something to remember me b-"

"FUJIKO!" I've had enough. My poor sanity won't hold any longer. Not with that fool doing whatever she wants like that. Throwing a pair of chopsticks towards her head, everyone turns to face me as Setsura casually catches them with a delicate hand and smiles innocently at me "...yes? Sho-chan? What seems to be the problem?" My knuckles threaten to explode through my fists as I clench the edge of the counter angrily "...this...isn't...Shimabara...so..._plea-_"

*clap* The sound of someone clapping their hands interrupts me, fortunately for Setsura since I was planning to ram the kettle into her pretty face and hopefully cause a burn or two. "Now now, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be so quick to fly into rage." A man sitting at the back removes his straw hat and winks at me " Sorry about my sister, I'll take her away before she causes trouble and punish her for misbehaving. That sound good? Osho-chan?" I open my mouth wide and quickly snap it shut as I instantly put a name to the mysterious new man. Haha, a small smile escapes my lips. To think that all 4 hitokiri would be in Kyoto right now. Now that Kirino onii-chan had arrived, I'm guesing something big is going to happen. I bow lightly to him and signal 'get rid of her' before responding casually "Ah...yes. Of course. I should also apologise for losing my temper like that..ahahaha..."

As the man walks briskly to me, he places a small bag of coins onto the counter and mouths a 'pass this on quickly.' before grabbing Setsura by the hair and dragging her off. Hijikata eyeballs the two and murmurs something softly to Saito who nods and stares blankly at me. "..." I stare back and bow awkwardly as I tuck the bag into my obi for safekeeping.

* * *

**~Mt. Kurama~**

"...so.." The woman reclining casually along the bed cast a scornful glance at Osen and Kimigiku who bowed politely and entered the room. "To think an oni would trouble themselves coming to Mt. Kurama . Hmph." She lit the pipe next to her and frowned with annoyance. It was hardly cause for celebration when someone came to visit, however when the visitor in question was a damned oni it was a different story. "Speak. "

Osen nodded respectfully, her long earrings swaying as she moved and bowed low in front of the woman, who could be inferred to hold a position which commanded respect and humility. "Hanamizakura no Ankou...uh...Ankou Gozen." Lifting her head up high, she laid her hands in her lap and looked directly at the bored looking young woman in front of her "I simply felt it was the only polite thing to do, since I'm an outsider it is necessary to pay my respects to the Mt. Kurama tengu empress and the leader of the Kyoto Yokai."

"...Stating the facts won't get you anywhere." Blowing a cloud of sweet smelling smoke from her pipe, Hanamizakura no Ankou shrugged and tapped her pipe thoughtfully against the small vase she used as an ashtray , as she cast a glance at her guests. The brown haired girl carried herself with the grace required of a high born lady while the other woman, despite being much prettier; knelt behind Sen in the same manner as a bodyguard would. "...even through death you continue to annoy me Suzuka." muttered Ankou as she saw the similarities between Suzuka and her descendant, Sen. "Cheh, you're exactly the same as Suzuka. Huh, reminds me, how're Nadeshiko's brats? the Yukimura whelps I mean."

Sen cast a glance down at her hands and sighed "Kaoru is with the Nagumo clan in the north, from what I've heard he's joined with the Tosa clan...and as for Chizuru..." She looked up at Ankou's dull violet eyes and blinked with surprise "..ah, Chizuru is currently in Kyoto. Actually, that's the reason I've come to visit you."

"Huh. Figures." Ankou rolled from her side to her back and examined her fingers carefully " I knew you had an ulterior motive. Forget about it." She sat up suddenly and cast a serious look at the two female oni, her dull violet eyes sharpening to a deadly purple gleam. "Why should we tengu involve ourselves with matters of the oni world? It doesn't concern me." shrugging her shoulders, she reached for her pipe and placed it leisurely between her teeth with a smug look on her face. "Now then, begone."

"it is something that concerns you! " Sen's voice became louder as her patience began to wear out, the elders back home had told her that requesting the help of the Kurama Daitengu was a hopeless task, but she had reassured them it would be fine. This was something she couldn't back down from now. " Chizuruhime is being involved with humans who have gotten their hands on the forbidden Ochimizu. As of this moment, they are transforming humans into Rasetsu which are running rampant along the streets of Kyoto."

That got Ankou's attention. " . Dare. They. Kyoto is my domain. " slamming her pipe onto the bed, she rubbed her forehead and scowled "Brat. What else?"

Keeping her urge to dance victoriously suppressed, Osen smiled and relaxed a little " Kazama Chikage is also here in Kyoto. He's allied himself with the Choshu and is threatening the Roshigumi...who Chizuru is being protected by. The Choshu are dangerous and yet...he's.."

"So?" Ankou merely raised an eyebrow with boredom "You should know as well as I do that we are supposed to side with Amaterasu's descendants no matter what." she trailed off and chuckled softly "Speaking of the Choshu... that ingrate is hanging around there...ufufu...oi. What's the whelp doing here in Kyoto?" A pair of black wings slowly unfurled from behind her back as she stretched an arm and rubbed her shoulders "I hardly think he's here for sightseeing."

"You're correct about that...Ankou Gozen." Osen twisted her fingers together in her lap. This was the main reason she was here and how she went about this would determine many things. "Kazama intends to kidnap Chizuru and forcefully make her his bride-"

"*pfft* AHAHAHAHAHA!" Much to Osen's dismay, Ankou found it hilarious and roared with laughter as she rocked in the air, her wings flapping around and creating a storm of wind and feathers. "Huh. I never realised the Kazama whelp was such a cherry boy. Do what you want. My only concern is the removal of Rasetsu."

"..." Osen turned red and covered her face bashfully at the tengu's statement but gasped in surprise as a sheet of paper flew right onto her face. "eek! W-what is...this?" On it, a detailed map had been drawn along with a list of instructions.

"Brat." Ankou smiled and stood up slowly, her kimono trailing along the ground as she pointed her pipe at Osen "Do what it says. There's someone you should meet." Chuckling to herself, she smirked with amusement "As infuriating they may be, this person may be extremely helpful. Also, tell them exactly what I've written down." she paused to exhale another cloud of smoke and chuckled " When it comes to cleaning up, that ingrate is unparalleled."

"...so who is this person?"Osen couldn't help but ask out of curiosity. Ankou exhaled another cloud of smoke and smirked "Benigawa Oborodzuki."

* * *

**Lots of new faces in this chapter~ :D, since its kinda confusing, here's a little something XD (kinda like a regressed version of my database in BDTM XD) Thanks to everyone who favourited/followed/read/reviewed! **

* * *

**~ Records from Kurama Shrine~**

**Hanamizakura no Ankou (aka Ankou, Kakouryuryoku)**

_The temperamental, cold and arrogant Kurama daitengu who also rules the Kyoto yokai. Always acting on her whims, she constantly neglects her duties as a leader and makes it clear she cares little about matters of the oni or human world. Despite her youthful appearance, she is far older than she looks (1560 years) and likewise, her speech and smoking patterns reflect this. _

_-she looks like Suzunoha from Wagakki Band_

_-her name Hanamizakura no Ankou means ' fleeting cherry blossom scent' and her other name Kakouryuryoku means ' beautiful scenery'_

**Niou'u Setsura (aka Natsumura Fujiko) **

_Beautiful and mysterious, she is renowned as the hitokiri specializing in stealth assassinations due to her mastery of poisons and hidden weapons. Combined with her confident and enchanting personality, her ability to gather accurate information makes her a useful ally and a deadly enemy. Unfortunately she is more suited to be an oiran rather than an assassin._

_-looks like Nyotengu from Dead or Alive_

_-Niou'u means ' fragnance' and Setsura means ' killing beauty'_

**Okada Izo **(based on the Izo in Urakata..so he's basically your ultra cute resident yandere who has a sweet tooth and is a deadly assassin. Lovely.)

**Kirino Yukito **

_His laid back appearance and cheerful demeanor contrast sharply to his disregard for lives of those he considers enemies or his targets. Is renowned among the hitokiri for being the most skilled though many scorn him as the 'unfaithful swordsman' due to his mastery of more than one sword style and complete disregard for Bushido. Since he is the oldest among the 4 ( aged 45) he has the most experience on and off the battlefield which has enabled him to blend in seamlessly with society and be on close terms with Bakufu supporters and their enemies._

**Benigawa Oborodzuki (Oboro)**

_Considered the hitokiri most shrouded in mystery, his existence is debatable and thought to be mere rumours by many. Known to be the fastest and most deadly among the 4, he is a master at long distance fighting and is a disciple of the Kurama daitengu. __As for those who have crossed his path, he is a man of little words, always wearing a Hannya mask and prefers to speak with his blade._

-_Benigawa means 'Red lake' and Oborodzuki means' hazy moon'_


	6. 4000 vague truths

**_Happy early Chinese New years! :D _**

* * *

Onii-sama turns the small vial in his hands carefully over and over again, watching as the red liquid sloshes around slowly. "...so this is the 'Elixir' that Kirino ani-ue said was capable of strengthening humans?" I stare as the red liquid casts a red beam of light onto the table from next to Onii-sama and stifle another yawn. While I like the fact that the leaders of the Tosa royalists trust me enough to allow me to participate in meetings, having to sit still for hours are boring. Nakaoka Shintarou-nii gives me a sympathetic smile as I rest my arm against him and yawn a little less subtly than before.

"That's what I was told." Seated next to him is a slightly older man with shoulder length brown hair, Takechi Hanpeita-sama, who is the leader of the Tsutomu Tosa royalists; which Onii-sama and myself are a part of. He raises an eyebrow and reaches a hand for the vial, which Onii-sama hands over and frowns at it. Not that it's unusual for him to do so, Takechi-sama has a permanent frown which ruins his otherwise very good looks. " ... Hmmm. Just think of the increased strength we would have is we used this!" His eyes have a nasty glint as he taps his fingers against his folded arms and smirks at Izo and I. "The Tosa already wield the upper hand in terms of strength; we have the weapons from the West and two of the four famed hitokiri are within our ranks, just think of the possibilities if we could produce 50, no 100 more men of your calibre." He stretches his hands outwards, smiling to himself as Onii-sama and a few others frown disapprovingly at him.

"Begging your pardon, but Takechi-dono, I think it would unwise to rely on something like this." Shintarou-nii shakes his head, making the long ponytail hanging over his shoulder swish back and forth as he frowns "The Bakufu are already utilising this, if we were t-"

"-All the more reason to use it. It would be foolish to ignore an opportunity to hold the advantage." Takechi-sama cuts in bluntly and tucks the bottle into his obi " Just like those idiots from Choshu." he shakes his head sadly and turns to face me and Izo "That aside, I have another assignment. Specifically for Izo and Oboro." He gives me a look and continues as I nod my head indicating I understand what he means. "I heard from Yukito that Niimi from the Roshigumi has fled to the Fuse district. It would be in our best interests to kill him before the Roshigumi can do so."

Izo stops playing with his scarf and nods silently before glancing sideways at me as he mumbles an "...Understood" to Takechi-sama. I nod politely back to him as he taps his finger on his arm, as though he expects me to say something. Which I do. "Takechi-sama. I can't agree with your views regarding the Ochimizu." He raises an eyebrow and curls his lip at me "Oh? I guess even a 'living weapon' like you is capable of opinions." He chuckles softly as I slam a hand on the table and stare at him "...Yes. Even a killing machine like me is capable of emotions and thinking. I'll just tell you one thing. Onii-sama, this concerns you too. If you continue to have anything to do with the Ochimizu, I'll leave the Tosa royalists and join Takasugi's Kiheitai."

Onii-sama sighs and rubs his forehead as I exit the room "Try to keep your cool my dear little sister. It's the coup d'etat tonight. The Roshigumi will be on high alert." I smile cheerfully at him as he sighs with defeat and Shintarou-nii pats his shoulders comfortingly.

**~X~X~X~**

The Fuse district is unnaturally quiet, usually at this time the blacksmiths would still be hammering at the forge and craftsmen would be packing things up. Maybe they all sensed the danger and decided to stay home. I crouch beneath the shadows on top of an inn, from my vantage point, I can see a few Roshigumi on patrol, walking in a set formation and occasionally stopping to scan their surroundings. It's pretty tempting to just gun down a few, however that would make me no better than _them_. "This side's clear." Izo leaps onto the roof next to me, his blue scarf flapping behind him as he sits down and withdraws a package from within his haori. "...you want some?" A slightly squashed riceball is shoved in my face as Izo stares unblinkingly at me. "Thanks." I accept it gratefully and eat it slowly, while watching the empty streets with slight irritation. Ever since we'd discovered the Ochimizu and Rasetsu, cool headed people like Takechi-sama were becoming...scary. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Chikage-dono and his guys since the last SatCho meeting. "...Would you really leave?" Izo breaks the silence and stares at me intently as I absentmindedly lick the rice off the palm of my hand. "...I don't know." I answer him honestly as he furrows his brow and shrugs "I guess you wouldn't. Since we're both technically swords for Tosa, there's no point in overthinking things."

He munches another riceball and coughs as he chokes again from eating too quickly. I stretch out my legs and resume my stealthy journey across the rooftops to Machika-ya, the inn where Niimi is supposedly hiding. From my vantage point, I carefully scan the windows as I edge past, looking to see if our target is there. "Hey Izo, first one to find him has to buy a week's worth of dango for the other." I cock my Spence at the window, aiming it at a random man who is in the middle of telling some sort of exaggerated story to the woman with him. "..sure." Izo nods and rushes ahead staring sideways before continuing on. "..Kiricchi. He's in there." Izo stops suddenly and his finger points towards the window and then back to me as he smiles "Looks like I've won." He chuckles as I grunt in answer and lower my gun away from my face. "*pfft* I let you win on purpose. Alright, I normally operate alone but how about you clean up and I'll provide backup from af-"

"h-h-h-hiyyaaaaaa!" A loud piercing scream interrupts us. Hang on, that voice sounds awfully familiar. "S-someone! help!" It's Ibuki-kun's voice. Why the hell is he here? The Roshigumi headquarters are close by, but I could have sworn they had a curfew or something. "Help! gyaaaa!" Ryu-kun shrieks again, this time from a distance somewhat close to us. The candlelight within Niimi's room suddenly goes out , no doubt he's going to flee since the Roshigumi might be heading this way. Pulling the green Hannya mask from within my haori, I place it over my face and give Izo a tap on the shoulder. "Izo! I'll head that way! You get rid of him." He nods and leaps down lightly onto the opposite roof, kicking his feet through the wooden shutters and flying into the room.

**~X~X~X~**

Ryu-kun is standing with his back pressed right against a wall, his hands trembling as they clutch a katana, which from the looks of it was one he managed to pick up from the rasetsu I killed before. "Gyaah! Stay! Away!" he dashes forward and desperately slashes the nearest approaching Rasetsu. Tch, that idiot! I suppress the urge to facepalm at his stupidity, if Ume-chan were here, she'd have marched over and knocked him out. "uuh...ahh...eeeeeeyyaa!" he falls to the ground as the katana shatters, leaving him holding a useless hilt with a broken chunk of blade. I guess his confession that he knew next to nothing about swords was true. *Blam* I fire at the nearest Rasetsu, opening a neat hole at the base of it's neck and leap down towards the group. "Get down." Ryu-kun shakily gets to his feet and quickly obliges as I gun down the group of Rasetsu. Among the Ishin Shishi, Kyo, Glover-san and I are the best marksmen; though they can't match me in terms of speed and accuracy. "..." I stretch out a hand to help Ryu-kun up, but instead of saying a word of thanks, his eye widens with fear as he looks at me with a mixture of apprehension and pure terror. "s-s-s-s-stay away from me!" he scrabbles backwards, managing to trap himself between me and a wall and covers his head with his hands "I didn't see anything! I don't know anything about Serizawa-sama being killed today! So please! let me-..." his eyes widen as he realizes what he said and he gasps loudly, covering his mouth as he shakes his head desperately. "...p-p-please don't kill me..."

"...you're mistaken." I pull him roughly up and forcefully drag him along with me to safety. "W-who are you?" he tries to free himself from my grasp and looks pleadingly at me to let go. Smirking at him from underneath my mask, I switch my grasp from his wrist to his collar, pulling him close enough to whisper "Benigawa Oborodzuki" into his ear. He squeals with terror and squirms out of my grasp "I don't want to die! SOMEONE!"

"...Ryu-kun!" We both turn to the source of the new voice to see Harada and Toudou, both dressed in their armour complete with blood splatters. Guess they were cleaning up as well. Ryu-kun rushes towards Toudou and pants heavily, while Harada looks at me with a hostile glare. "One of the Ishin Shishi? You're with the Choushu aren't you? or is it the Satsuma?" Harada's eyes look coldly at me as I remain silent and point my Spence at him. "...Neither.."

I fire towards him as his eyes widen with shock, Toudou pulls his sword out ready to intercept the path of the bullet but stops short when it reaches its target. "...shit! More of them!" The approaching Rasetsu's head crumbles and the corpse falls onto the ground with a wet splatter."...Hey." Harada turns to me with a strange look in his eyes " Since we've established you aren't one of the rebels, how about lending us a hand here?"

I jerk my head up at him in surprise, as if to say "what? What are you talking about?" He catches on and shrugs "Look, me and Toudou here, we're strong. But if someone like Benigawa Oborodzuki were to help us out, it'd make everything so much easier." Toudou nods grudgingly and quickly cuts down a Rasetsu before looking at me. "...regrettable but true..." I nod slowly and switch out my naginata "...alright then..."Harada grins at me and leaps forward with excitement "To think I'd be able to fight alongside one of the legendary hitokiri. Though, I'm warning you, I'm pretty strong myself." I ignore him and cut through a line of Rasetsu with ease as he pauses to kick off the limp corpse stuck to the tip of his yari "I bet I'll kill more than you." His smile fades as I slash a Rasetsu and fire the remains of its arm towards his face to which he ducks and cringes "Eugh! Well, I'll take that as a yes then!"

**~X~X~X~**

"Whew." The last Rasetsu flops onto the ground as Harada pulls his yari out from its head. "You alright there, Ryu-kun?" Ryunosuke-kun nods timidly and breathes a sigh of relief which quickly switches to an annoyed grunt as Harada ruffles his head. "...a-ah!" his eyes widen and focus on me as I leap forward, naginata raised towards Harada's neck from behind. "SANO!" Toudou yells loudly as Harada dodges, just in time to avoid being decapitated. "Guh! What's wrong? You still want to fight?" He strains to hold back my naginata, sweat dripping from his brow as I push harder "...maybe.." I leap backwards, landing on one knee and jump up, kicking him heavily in the side. "Ugh!" He manages to endure the blow and coughs as I retreat, skidding backwards as Harada falls onto his knees and breathes heavily. "You're a hitokiri aren't you? Just tell me one thing. Who's the coward who ordered you to take my head?" He looks angry, gritting his teeth as I spin forward and knock back his yari. "Tch." He steps to the right and dashes forward again, jabbing his spear towards me as I duck below the point and kick him in the stomach. "...I can't say..." His eyes widen as he coughs out a mixture of blood and saliva and groans heavily. "That's just bullshit!" We clash again, this time I don't put all my strength into pushing him back but sweep the ground with my feet to knock him down. Obviously being a well-built man, he easily stands firm and steps over my feet, forcing me back and lunging forward with a well-timed strike.

"Gotcha." He grins as the tip of his yari heads towards my neck , I bend my body backwards, ducking underneath his yari and slashing across his throat with my naginata. "..." Just as the blade is about to make contact, he leans all the way back, bending his knees forward and flips backwards to dodge. "Hah!" He jabs forward with his yari almost instantly, as I raise my arm and absorb the blow with the tekko on my right hand.

"...hey, you haven't been taking me seriously right?" He pants and maintains his stance in case I attack. "...perhaps. ." I spin my naginata once around my body and spread my legs in a slightly squatting stance "..who knows?..." As soon as I say this, we're both sprinting towards each other, blades drawn to kill. The same thing happens again, only this time I have the edge on him. His yari keeps on moving at an incredible speed ; only someone of high skill could manipulate so well, however that isn't enough to beat me. I dodge every single one of his blows with ease, even with sweat pouring down his face, he doesn't seem to be losing his edge. "...give up."" I grab the shaft of his yari, just underneath the blade and push it easily out of the way as I punch him right in the face. "...you can't win.." He grits his teeth trying to win back control of his weapon as I twist it away from him in a clockwise motion, "ungh!" he strains harder, twisting it anti-clockwise when he loses his footing and falls forward. "...tsk." I let go of the yari and aim a kick at his knees, hoping to break them in the process.

"..ugnh.." he grunts as he loses his balance momentarily but recovers in time to sweep his leg across the ground. "Ghcck!" The sudden shift makes me falter as I quickly fall forward on my foot and push myself backwards, landing on one hand with the rest of my body in the air. I push downwards on my hand and use the boost to kick backwards at Harada, knocking him back as he grabs my foot with his free hand and attempts to disarm me. "...rghh!" shoving my naginata behind my back, I switch to my Spence and shoot him in the shoulder "hguh!" he grits his teeth and maintains his grip as he throws me to the ground and jumps on top of me, keeping his knee pressed against my stomach and raises his fist to pummel my face. I roll over and reverse our positions, clenching my fist tightly as I concentrate. "...die." My fist hovers a short distance over his chest before connecting with his body and slamming right into his chest. "GWAAAAAAH!" The sounds of ribs cracking mingles with his screams as I raise my fist again and prepare to repeat. ...huh? The idiot somehow managed to catch my fist. Guess he isn't that much of an idiot then. "s...stop...*cough*" he coughs again and tenses his body as he tries to break free. "..yah!" he manages to push me off and grabs his yari from the ground and holds it tightly. "...hey...you're...a...woman?" Blood trickles down his face and onto my arm as he coughs again, his gaze fixed on my face and then moves lower. I follow his line of vision and calmly raise my naginata. "...so?..." I raise the blade so it is parallel with my arm and look curiously at him.

"*ptuh* I'm impressed." He wipes the blood from his mouth and places his hand gingerly over his chest "man, you're tough. Wonder how many ribs you broke with that punch." I slowly lower my weapon and step backwards as he clenches his fist a few times and coughs again ", it's in my nature to protect and respect women, but when I'm on the battlefield, it'd be going against my principles to underestimate another warrior based on the fact she's a woman." He cracks his neck, and with some effort, spins his yari to attack "now, how bout we pick up where we left off?"

"..." I stare back at him and slowly grip my naginata with both hands. "_on the battlefield, gender is completely irrelevant..." _words that someone once said to me resonate in my mind...now that I think about it. Harada and..._him_...they're a little similar to each other. "_—no matter what I'll always have your back. Like a curse." _ _his _smiling face appears briefly in my mind when a whooshing sound brings me back to reality. "_sate._I'll fight you properly then." I rush forward with my naginata held horizontally, then slash forward, as expected, he sidesteps away and heads towards my other side. "Bang." I shove the naginata onto my back with my right hand, and with my left pull out my Spence and fire right in his shoulder.

"Gwoah!" he yells in pain as I quickly switch weapons again, slicing through his stomach guard as a trail of red spurts through. "...if you surrender, I'll spare your life." Knowing the kind of man he is, he'd prefer to kill himself than be granted mercy, even more so from a woman. He shakes his head violently and winks at me "No way. We haven't been on a date ye-gwoah!" I shoot him in the wrist without a moment's hesitation. "...disgusting." He is just like that man. and that pisses me off more than it should. "die." I ready my naginata, preparing to strike as he spreads his legs apart and readies his yari. "...!" Sensing something approaching from my right, I raise my hand and quickly flick the flying senbon back towards its owner. Seems like more enemies have shown up.

"Himesama!" A woman yells out as her female companion shrieks with fright from a short distant away from me. I turn towards the two new arrivals, and fire, shooting the taller one in the arm and leap towards them. "..ghh!" the taller woman, who is dressed in a shinobi uniform spreads her arms to protect the slightly younger girl behind her, who is dressed in fine clothes...she must be a lady of high status or something. "...don't get in my way..." I speak quietly to the shinobi with my naginata pressed directly against her neck, while my other hand is pressed firmly around the neck of the noble lady. "...acck! *cough*" she flails around, her fingers clawing into my arms as she tries to free herself. "...stop! Leave them alone!"

Harada staggers forward, a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he throws his yari towards my head. "Don't you dare hurt these girls!" I lift my hand from the noblewoman's neck, kicking her to the ground and catch Harada's spear mid-air. "...hmph. Such a gentleman." I twist the yari around and toss it right back at him, piercing through his already bleeding shoulder. "gyaaaah!" he groans and pulls it out of his shoulder "...Ryu-kun stay back!" Toudou rushes towards me, his katana raised with fierce determination in his eyes "yaaah!" his katana swings downwards towards me and slices through the shinobi as I throw her casually into its path. "...KIMI!" The noblewoman screams as she lies on the ground, her hands stretched towards the bleeding shinobi. "...hime...sama..." The shinobi coughs as Toudou withdraws his katana with fear etched onto his face. "...Benigawa OBORODZUKI!" his face twists with anger as he turns towards me.

"Ok! ok! That's enough now. Beni-chan, come over here! " Everyone freezes as a completely out of place voice enters the scene. I turn my head slightly to see none other than Setsura standing in the middle of the street, one hand on her hip while the other is waving cheerily at me. "..who are you?" Harada is the first to speak as Setsura blinks back innocently at him "Me? I'm just here to pick up my rebellious little pet." she points to me and shakes her head "Just as I thought. No matter how strong you are, that doesn't change the fact you need a reliable man to act as your voice of reason. Be~ ni ~chan."

I slowly step back as Setsura walks calmly towards where the shinobi called 'Kimi' is being cradled by her companion. "I sincerely apologise. Sen-chan. " she kneels down and holds her hand over the two girls.. To everyone's amazement, a soft light emanates from her hand as the wounds heal almost instantly and Kimi sits up with a faint look of surprise on her face. "...you're..." her sentence is stopped as Setsura places a delicate hand on her lips and turns towards the injured Roshigumi men. " Toudou-dono. Harada-dono." She bows her head lightly and pushes me playfully forward "I'm not at liberty to say much, however, as thanks for assisting my lady with removing the rasetsu, I'll get Benigawa Oborodzuki to withdraw..." she beams cheekily at them as a soft light appears and heals their wounds. "now, let's do what Ankou Gozen said. Mmmm?" The two women look at her with surprise and a blinding light surrounds us as I feel the ground under my feet seemingly collapse.

"Oi! Where'd they go?"

"Who cares! Sano, let's just go now!"

The Roshigumi's yells become distorted as the light brightens. "Setsura! What the hell are you doing?" I sense her presence next to me and grab her by the wrist "Answer me! What's going on?" Setsura giggles next to me "Don't you worry Beni-chan.!" Tch. I'm worried. Seriously worried.

**~X~X~X~**

Ugh. I feel a wave of nausea as the ground steadies under my feet and blink to see myself in a completely different place. Instead of a bloodied street in Fuse, I'm inside a richly decorated room, maybe a palace of some sort? Lavishly decorated furniture adorn the spacious room and a strong somewhat sickening sweet smells fills up the place.

"...I believe I asked you to bring me Oboro. Not some human woman." A bored and arrogant sounding female voice from above me draws my attention to the owner of this room. Lying casually on her side atop a raised bed is a young woman dressed in a purple furisode, with the opening exposed as she clasps a pipe, almost a metre long with her free hand. What surprises me the most is the pair of large black wings flapping gently behind her as she puffs out sweet smelling smoke throughout the room. "...well, at least you brought the other brats." she glances lazily behind me and smirks to herself as I turn to face behind me.

The two women from before are seated _seiza _style towards the far right, they make every effort to avoid eye contact with me, Setsura waves cheerily to me when I notice her, seated demurely next to Setsura is a shy looking girl dressed in male clothing and slouched against the wall towards my left...is...Chikage-dono? He raises an eyebrow with boredom and directs his gaze towards the front. "Hag. Get to the point, what's your reason for dragging us into your problem?" Chikage-dono breaks the silence and directs a haughty look at the winged woman who scowls at him and mutters something under her breath. "Shut up. Brat. Haha, it certainly has been awhile since the heirs of the oni clans were all together." She ignores Chikage-dono completely and jabs her pipe towards the girl sitting next to Setsura "oh? the Yukimura brat. Which one are you? Chizuru or Kaoru?"

The cross dressing girls blinks with surprise and manages to squeak out a "eh? W-what are you talking about?" the woman sighs and looks towards the two women. "Sen. Don't tell me she doesn't know." I turn to look at the cross dresser and she meets my gaze, flinching at my masked face and lowers her head. Well, at least I'm not the only one who feels completely lost here. For some reason I feel like I don't belong here at all, though being referred to as a 'human' by a woman with wings might be a big enough clue.

"...No, my lady. Chizuruhime's memories were sealed by Kodo." The noblewoman , Sen speaks politely as the cross dresser, now known as Chizuru stares wide-eyed at her. "...K-kodo? That's my father!" she points a finger shakily at Sen who smiles kindly at her with her hands raised amicably "I am sorry for the sudden nature of this meeting. Chizuruhime, I had intended to explain things to you, however Ankou Gozen gave me specific instructions." she places a hand delicately on her neck and glares at me "If I had known what would happen, I would have done things my way." Sen coughs lightly and sniffs, turning to 'Ankou' who shrugs and blows another stream of smoke "The future I see changes constantly. You must have done something unexpected." Sen pouts and looks down at her hands as Kimi pats her hand comfortingly.

"well~ Since Tsuru-chan doesn't remember her past and Yu-chan here is completely in the dark, I'd say introductions might be needed." Setsura's sing song voice switches the mood as Chizuru blushes and looks gratefully at her while the two girls look at her with confusion. "If you don't mind, Yukimihime, who exactly is Yu-chan?"

"Who's this Yukimi?" I butt in, earning a hostile glare from Sen as she purses her lips and turns away "Yukimi (千実) is my personal name." Setsura smiles lazily and giggles "Chikage, Sen, Chizuru and Yukimi. All the th generation successors of the main oni clans have '千' in their names, teehee, well, I suppose Ankou-sama might be able to tell us exactly what's going on." Again with all this oni talk. Honestly, what the hell is going on? Maybe I ...died during that fight before? Nah, impossible. I KNOW for a fact that I'm alive...right? I move my hands around my body, confirming that I'm not missing anything and touch my head lightly, feeling for any suspicious bumps that might explain this...weird situation. My fingers close gently around my tied up hair and freeze in place, feeling my hair again and falling limply to my lap. Dammit. My hairpin. The last thing I had left to remember that man by. It's gone. "...gone..." I subconsciously echo my thoughts as Ankou glowers down at me.

"If you refer to your ignorance of our kind, then yes." I blink back dumbly at her and choke out a 'huh?' complete with bugged out eyes "...what?"  
"...What a pain." Ankou scowls and sits up, tapping her pipe gently into a vase, which I guess serves as her ashtray. "Oi. Human. Her sharp violet eyes seem to look right into my soul as I point to myself tentatively "Cheh. Who else is a human besides you? Tsk." she seems angry and sighs loudly before jabbing her pipe towards me "... explain to me how a mere human like you holds the title of 'Benigawa Oborodzuki."

I hold both my hands up with confusion and stare at her "how about you explain to me what's going on. I'm completely lost at the moment."

* * *

**_Thanks for reading! :D I hope people are enjoying this XwX ! _**

**_ahh, I really wish Hakuouki Urakata gets an anime! the heroine, Kirishima Kozue is AWESOME! way better than doormat Chizuru and Ryunosuke! she's a tough girl who can defend herself in a fight but at the same time she's cute and girly ...she's just cool!not to mention... also the guys *swoons* so so much dateable hotties! _**

**_~Mei's babbles~_**

**_It's kinda funny how all the 'noble' oni in Hakuouki have '_****_千_****_' _****_(read as : sen/chi/kazu/yuki) meaning '1000' in their name ! So, in my fic, Sen, Chikage (yep his first name is Chikage XD) Chizuru (I'm calling them the 1000 trio XP ) and Yukimi / Niou'u Setsura (oc)are the heirs of their respective clans. This also kinda works out since Kaoru is the ...inferior? twin and doesn't have '_****_千_****_' _****_in his name. Though it could be coincidence?_**

**_Another thing, Japanese mythology is a little complicated. _**鬼**_read as 'oni' (or ki) can mean 'demon' however it usually refers to the monsters we know as 'ogres'. As in ugly (stupid) muscular horned monsters carrying huge clubs with a fear of beans (just think of Setsubun masks ). I'd say the Hakuouki oni are based on these guys, though obviously made prettier. Also, we don't ever see other oni species in the Hakuokiverse, but I decided to include other species of oni in my story like Shuten Doji! (spoilers teehee~) and other yokai (cos Japan has a lot of cool demons XD) like tengu!_**

* * *

**_Next time! The 2_****_nd_****_ arc begins! we'll have none other than Chikage do the introductions!*throws mic*_**

**_Chikage:...*crushes mic in his hands* Such a waste of my time. *throws scattered pieces to the ground*_**

**_Mei: Aww come on, I'm only asking you since you're the most err powerful oni *whispers*so far. *whispers*_**

**_Chikage: *sigh* Next time. On this *mutters quietly* pathetic attempt at story telling *mutters* 'Oni Yuugi'_**

**_Mei: *raises hand* it mean's 'Demon's game'! pureeeze review!_**


	7. Oni Yuugi

**_ 鬼_遊戯 - _Demon Games-_**

_Dragged into the abyss, I am nothing more than a plaything for the oni_

* * *

My head feels like its spinning after the hours of discussion and explanations, in a way, it's no different to the meetings with the Choshu or Tosa. Slowly sipping tea, I examine the assortment of sweets laid out neatly on the table and glance at Sen who turns away sharply. Well, guess she's the sort of girl who'd hold a grudge for a simple misunderstanding. Setsura is in the middle of whispering something to Chikage-dono and Chizuru-san is somewhere with Ankou. Something about unsealing her memories, I think she said.

In short, the yokai world and the human world coexist with each other, though since the connection has weakened over time; the only way to enter the yokai world was through the use of the tori gates and fulfilling certain conditions. There were few exceptions to this such as various oni and yokai clans who chose to live among humans, eventually intermingling with them as their bloodline thinned out. *sigh* resting my back against the wall, the door opens slightly as Chizuru-san tip toes in followed by Ankou who floats in. Must be nice being able to fly.

"Hag. I don't have time for your petty requests." Chikage-dono straightens his back and prepares to walk out the door. He stops a little away from Chizuru-san and looks straight at, almost as though he is browsing in a store."...You should be prepared to come with me next time." Chizuru-san shakes her head violently as Sen glares at him silently.

"My my. A mere oni like yourself dares to defy a daitengu like me?" Ankou's bored sounding voice seems to have some presence as Chikage-dono stops and remains staring at the door, though his jaw is set is a firm line and his eyes are glowing like red hot coals. "As the guardian of Kyoto, I have far more authority than an arrogant oni outsider like you. Get back here." She clicks her finger at him as if she's calling a puppy to her side and snickers as he grits his teeth.

"How dare you..." Chikage-dono's voice crawls to a harsh whisper as an ominious wind blows gently through the room. 4 long white horns emerge on his now silvery white hair as his eyes glow a deeper shade of red "I'm a pureblood from the Kazama oni clan of the west. I'll teach you to look down on m-"

"Silence, brat." without batting an eyelid, Ankou points her pipe in his direction and grins as Chikage-dono appears to be held tightly by invisible chains or something. "...ghhh...fuck you.." Chikage-dono grits his teeth in anger and tries to break free, but fails. "..Huh, looks like you're learning. Now sit quietly like a good boy. In fact, you should try be more like Akihisa..."

"...don't mention that fucking name in front of me." Chikage-dono snaps viciously as Ankou raises an eyebrow with amusement and snickers "I'll say it as many times as I'd like. The Kazama clan would fall into ruin if an ingrate like you were to become clan leader. Your younger brother is a far better choice."

"Oi. Setsura, care to enlighten me?" I nudge Setsura as she looks almost sadly at Chikage-dono and smiles sleepily as she repositions herself to a more comfortable position. "Well, the Kazama clan is currently in a... schism of sorts. The two sides either support Kage-kun as the heir or Akihisa-kun, his younger brother. Kage-kun has the support of the current clan head and his father; Narihira-sama and many of the younger clansmen while Akihisa, has the support of their mother, Okichi-no-miya who holds great influence among the oni...and other affiliated yokai such as Ankou Gozen."

She absentmindedly draws circles on her knees with her finger and steals a glance at Chikage-dono "Right now he's focused on doing whatever it takes to persuade everyone he'll be the better choice. Doing things like assisting the Ishin Shishi, the Rasetsu and a suitable mate to produce a powerful heir... namely a pureblood oni like Tsuru-chan"

"mate? What about you?" I raise an eyebrow at her as she looks shyly away and runs her finger along the table "...I'm a pureblood descendant of Shuten Doji, making me a different species. True, I am far more powerful than Kage-kun is, and my standing is much higher, but there are...reasons why...aww Beni-chan!" she slaps me playfully and giggles "You're making me sound silly now! teehee!" Tch. Fine, dodge the question Setsura. I shrug and watch as Setsura covers her face delicately as she laughs and waves to Sen who smiles back and nods in greeting. "So, you guys mentioned 'Benigawa Oborodzuki'. What's the deal?"

**~X~X~X~**

"Benigawa Oborodzuki is a title granted to the heir of the Yonaga oni clan, the descendants of Rashomon. The role of Benigawa is an enforcer, ensuring the laws of yokai are adhered to and punishing those who break the rules. Additionally, as oni, Benigawa acts as a neutral party and assists with making decisions such as deciding the next clan head. So, how is it that you have the title?" Sen looks at me with genuine curiosity in her eyes as everyone else stares expectantly at me. Guh, I don't like all this attention, especially when it comes to a topic which is related to something which I prefer to keep closed away.

"...Before Benigawa Oborodzuki the famed hitokiri existed, I was known as 'Benigaka' or the 'red painter'. Sometime after that, I formed an alliance with 2 others who would be able to create the illusion of a legendary assassin. The name was coined by one of the other members. " Chizuru-san gapes and points a finger "so then...that means..."

"Yes." I nod as Ankou raises an eyebrow and Sen covers her mouth with surprise "The true identity of Benigawa Oborodzuki the hitokiri was 3 people. Myself, a member of the Choshu Kiheitai; Mimegumi Kazunari and a ronin, Kasamori Oboro. That was how Benigawa was able to kill so quickly and efficiently. I handled the killings, Kazunari and Oboro handled everything else. That's all...I guess"

Almost everyone bar Chizuru-san is staring at me with surprise on their faces. *clunk* Ankou's pipe drops from her hands as she remains frozen in place with her mouth open slightly. "Oh man, you guys. It's not _that _shocking is it?"

Chikage-dono is the first to speak, his eyes narrowed in that signature position "...Kasamori Oboro. Perhaps this is more than a coincidence. The last Benigawa Oborodzuki was a half oni half tengu named Yonaga Oboro."

Sen picks up from where Chikage-dono stops and glances at Kimi who gives her a nod " He disappeared 9 years ago, shortly after the Yukimura clan massacre. Which brings me to ask you this..."Sen pulls a mirror from within her obi, it glows gently and soon a blurred image appears on it, slowly focusing to a silvery-white haired man with messy shoulder length hair, dressed in a black monk's kimono; his hand stroking his chin as he grins cheerfully towards us. "Is this man the same Kasamori Oboro you know?"

"...well, it's certainly a face I can't forget anytime soon." I grin bitterly and look away from the mirror "That's definitely him. Though the bastard's been dead for 2 years now."

Ankou relights her pipe and blows smoke all over the already stuffy room " That damn ingrate. Hmph, dying before I could box his ungrateful ears. " She rolls over suddenly and turns her winged back towards us so her face is hidden " Yonaga had reported to me regarding Yukimura Kodo's theft of Shuten Doji's legendary wine to manufacture the Ochimizu, as well as his massacre of countless lesser oni. The idiot chose to act upon instinct and ended up being wrongly accused of orchestrating the Yukimura massacre. Oi. Human." she raises her pipe towards my direction and flicks the ash gently away "You eliminate Yukimura Kodo. The brats here can clean up the rasetsu."

"Why should I involve myself in the matters of the oni world?" I shake my head and stand up to leave, stretching my cramped leg and glaring at the daitengu's back.

"Simple. You're the closest thing we have to a neutral party. The Yonaga clan is no more, and you're capable of assisting with clean up. " Great. I'm a 'thing' now eh? I grunt in reply and cross my arms " Don't involve me in your petty demon games. This is all related to the Kazama family feud isn't it? Leave me out of this. I'm not a tool "

Ankou chews the end of her pipe, from the looks of it, I hit the mark. "This isn't a request, but an order." Ankou sits up slowly and points her finger at me. A sudden unseen force roots me to the ground and I feel like my lungs are going to be crushed. "...fuck...no.." I manage to gasp out an answer as she presses her lips together and raises another finger, pointing them downwards as the pressure increases. "..ghcckk...ugh." I feel blood trickling out of my eardrums and tiny bright lights flicker everywhere. "...*cough*..."  
"U-um! Stop it ! please!" Chizuru-san rushes up and stands in front of me, her arms outstretched as she faces Ankou. "She's right! A human shouldn't be involved in our world...we're...probably monsters to humans anyway..."

"*cough* fuck...*cough*...*ptuh*" I spit out blood onto the wooden floor and pray it stains forever as I stand silently and turn to face Ankou who looks emotionlessly back at me. "...die!" I leap towards her with my naginata spread out, slashing forward as a look of faint surprise flickers across her face as my blade connects. "...My.." Ankou slowly brushes some feathers off her face and stares with boredom at the deep gash I made across her torso. "...how rude. Attacking your host like that. If I wasn't me, I would be dead. Haha. " The blood gets sucked back into her body as the flesh closes up and reforms with clear white skin shining through the tear in her furisode. "...Hmph. Well, I suppose I've forgotten how greedy humans are. Tokichiro was the same. Fine."

She glares at me and spins her pipe leisurely " Yukimura Kodo may have played a role in the death of Yonaga Oboro." I frown and look questioningly at her "...and why are you telling me this?"  
The tengu smirks and raises a leg slowly, leaning her head against her knee "there are still things you don't know about him, correct? In exchange for your services, I'll provide information. About Yonaga and whatever else you wish for. Fair?"

"..." In this age, information is key to winning. Ankou is a neutral sort of party, not to mention she's not human which would mean I might gain access to all sorts of information people like Goro-nii normally can't. Now that I think about it, maybe that's why Setsura always had freakishly accurate information. "..Alright. I'll help you." I nod as she bares her teeth in a grin "but, don't think for a second that I'll willingly do as you say."

"Ara, that's a little conflicting." She stares unblinkingly at me with scorn in her voice "You're considered one of the swords of Tosa, the killing machine of Takechi Hanpeita and Sakamoto Ryoma. Who would have thought you'd be capable of making decisions."

~X~X~X~

"*phew* I was sweating like a pig in there." I slowly take off my mask and breathe with relief as part of my sweaty face is exposed to the cool breeze "Ah~ That feels great!" I fan the mask gently over my face and stare sideways at Chizuru-san who jolts in her seat and squirms awkwardly as we make eye contact "...ah...Sorry. " She turns away and stares meekly at her teacup with a faint blush on her face. She's kinda cute, with a tiny face that belongs to a doll and big brown eyes which reminds me a little of Shizu-chan. "I d-didn't mean to stare at you!" She shuts her eyes and bows her head in apology as I lean on my hand and smirk "What? You're curious to see who's actually underneath the mask of Benigawa?" she shakes her head violently and turns red. Looks like I hit the nail on the head. "Haha! You're adorable. "

She turns red and stares at her hands "..um..thanks." She speaks softly and smiles with embarrassment. "...I remember everything. About my real parents, my twin brother , the man I call father 'Yukimura Kodo' and... Yonaga Oboro."

"Yonaga Oboro was like a big brother to me." She looks shyly at me and smiles "He used to play with Kaoru-nii and I when he came to visit my parents. The last time I saw him was...on the day my clan was destroyed. I remember him saving Kaoru-nii and then there was fire. A lot of it."

I pat her hand comfortingly "Sounds like you've been through a lot." She nods and looks confidently at me "but that doesn't mean I have to be all depressed about it! I've got people who care for me and comrades!...like you! um...Benigawa...san?..." I look at her with surprise as she grins back innocently at me. She's so naïve it pisses me off a little. Shouldn't you know better than to cosy up to a hitokiri like me? I remain smiling and shrug "Call me Beni-chan. It's less of a mouthful."

"So...how did you know Oboro nii-chan?"

I stare at the scenery behind Chizuru-san, a group of young tengu are flying around underneath the cherry trees, shrieking with laughter as they try dodging the falling petals. "...he was my fiancé." One of the tengu children turns to look at us and points a finger at me. Well, I guess seeing a human in a tengu village isn't exactly an everyday experience. "but that's all in the past now. So.." I turn to face her and take the kodachi hanging at her side. Just what I needed to move away from this conversation.

"That kodachi yours? Can I have a look?" Chizuru nods meekly and folds her hands in her lap as I examine her kodachi. From the looks of it, it's been made quite well though it's no Masamune or Muramasa blade.

"Catch." I toss her the kodachi and open and close my fists a few times "Since you're masquerading as a boy, that kodachi shouldn't be just a decoration. You do know how to fight, don't you? "

Chizuru shakes her head violently "n-no! I would prefer not to use it at all! E-especially since you might get hur-kyaaa!" I easily lift her into the air by her neck and let her feet dangle over the ground. "I'm more than capable of defending myself empty handed. Now, come at me."

I lower her gently onto the ground and she rubs her neck, coughing briefly before taking a deep breath. "Benigawa-san!...I'm sorry!" Chizuru-san screws her eyes shut for a moment as she readies her stance and raises her kodachi so the kisaki is level with her chin. "yaah!" she dashes forward, her arms moving to strike at me. Hmm, her footwork isn't bad and her stance is decent enough to cover her open points, however, experience is key to winning. "Not bad." I grab onto her wrist and easily pluck the kodachi as it falls from her grip, then hold her in a headlock with her own weapon pressed against her throat.

"...*huff*...ah..." As I let go, Chizuru-san falls to the ground, gasping for breath "Y-you're so strong!" I wink at her and leave her as she picks herself up off the ground. I managed to dodge an awkward conversation, maybe I should find that stupid woman and leave now.

**~X~X~X~**

"Oi! Setsura! Take me back!" I wander around the area calling for the hitokiri "Oi! You loose woman! –huh?" I shut up and stand back as I spot something I probably shouldn't be seeing.

"- how sad." Setsura is leaning against a cherry blossom tree with Chikage-dono leaning against the other side. she raises a hand and catches some falling petals, closing her fists around them before blowing them away. "You'll go this far just to lead the clan?"

"Someone like you wouldn't understand." Chikage-dono speaks quietly and snickers softly " You've been among humans far too long, you've gotten soft-tsk." Setsura throws a handful of flower petals in his face and pouts " You've changed too, Kage-kun."

Chikage-dono's face softens slightly as he shrugs "Hasn't everyone?...Mi-san or should I call you Yukimi- Miya-sama now? hmph, perhaps you should take your pet back home." They turn to face me as I wave awkwardly. Setsura turns a light shade of pink and purses her lips at me. Ah, seems like she and Chikage-dono have something going on between them.

* * *

**_~ Akai Gasa~_**

_ "__Phew! That was tough eh? You alright there?" The man standing ahead of me pulls his sword out from the limp corpse, kicking it to the ground and smiles as I scowl back at him. "Cheh. Did I look like I needed help?" I shake the blood off my naginata and sling it over my shoulders "You men are all the same, thinking that all women are weak and always crying for help. I hate people like you the most." He raises his hands in protest and shakes his head quickly "no, no, no. I didn't mean to imply anything like that. Wait..." he smirks at me and rubs his chin before tilting his head to this side " Mmm. yeah, with curves like that you're definitely a woman. Besides, what's so wrong about showing concern for a comrade?"_

_"__Hah. You're just like all the others. Shut up and leave." I leap over the piled corpses and aim a punch at his face. "oof! You're tough!" he catches my fist in his hands and maintains his hold on me as he smiles teasingly "yare,yare. You must have a severe inferiority complex" he lowers my arm, holding it in place as he continues "That wasn't a question directed at you as a woman. I never once mentioned anything about you being weak, or even implied anything of the sort."_

_"__...still, if I was a man, you wouldn't have stepped in like that." I twist his arm back and withdraw my arm, folding it inside my sleeves. "Everyone underestimates me...just because I'm a female..."_

_He closes one eye and tilts his head "actually, I would have done the same." He opens both eyes and crosses his arms casually "Men or women, that doesn't concern me. On the battlefield, gender is completely irrelevant. As long as you're fighting on the same side as me, that's all that matters. Besides..." he closes his left eye again and walks closer to me "it's not every day I can fight with a cute girl like you. Whaddya say about a date?"_

_"__People like you infuriate me the most." I step back and point warningly at him "Take one more step and you will pay." He ignores me and continues to walk closer. I pull the hairpin from my hair and stab it into the centre of his palm. "Try anything else and I'll separate your head from your body."...? As I try pull my pin back, it's being held firmly in place by the man. He grips it tightly and shakes his head at me "you're a really rigid person, aren't you? It wouldn't hurt to loosen up once in awhile you know." He winks at me and casually raises his hand to his face, lapping the blood gently as he pulls the hairpin out. Geh, I'm not taking that back anymore. "Tsk. You're annoying. Who are you anyway?"_

_"__...hmm, I'm just a simple ronin. My previous lord has died so I'm searching for a new master." he examines my bent and bloodied hairpin in his injury-free hand "...what about yourself? You aren't an ordinary girl, that's certain. A shinobi perhaps?"_

_"__Think whatever you want."_

_"__Oh? Kyoto beauties sure are colder than Edo ones. " He raises an eyebrow and picks up a red umbrella lying on the ground " The name's Kasamori Oboro. Care to join me?"_

_I blink back at him as he opens the red umbrella and leans the handle casually against his shoulder "No. What's the point of telling me your name anyway? Weirdo." I shrug and leap onto the roof, retying my tekko around my hand as I turn away from him. "...I'm known as the 'Red Painter' in my line of work." I turn my head back slightly as he twirls his umbrella absentmindedly around "... Kashiwagi Sho. That's my name."_

_"__Ah. Sho-chan then." Geez, since when were we on a first name basis? We've only just met! I whirl around and glare at him "...what. A job request?"_

_"__Not quite." Kasamori-san grins briefly and places his injured hand against his lips "I think this was a fated meeting." he raises my broken hairpin and shakes it lightly, making the chains tinkle gently "I still owe you something for this. Mmmm, I'll think about it next time."_

* * *

**~X~X~X~**

"-this is too much! Lower the price!"  
"Heehh? I gotta earn a living, woman, my kids will starve if I lower it any more!"  
"Ara, well I suppose I'll need to buy from Nakata-san than."

"That'll be 200 ryo."

As my surroundings clear, I hear the sounds of the market, people arguing as usual and bumping into me as I wander slightly dazed. From the looks of it, it's the next morning. Maybe time went by at a different rate back there? Argh, this is all so confusing.

"Kiri-chan! There you are!"

A familiar voice jolts me out of my spacing out and I look up to see a certain brown haired man sloppily dressed in a green kimono.. "Hey! Where'd you go after last night?" Shin-chan grins at me and waves as he heads closer " I heard Takechi sent you off on a job, from the looks of it, you didn't have an easy time catching him huh?"

"Urgh, don't ask. Izo probably handled everything." I wave him away and point to him "So, What about you? It's rare to see you roaming around so early in the morning."

"I just wanted to buy some new strings for my shamisen. hehe. " he holds up his shamisen and chuckles. "You're lying." I jab him playfully in the side and take his shamisen, rocking it back and forth like a pendulum as we walk "I bet you're just using that as an excuse to skip another meeting."

"*sigh* found out huh." Shin-chan looks guiltily away and grins "Aww come on, you try spending all your time cooped up listening to those old farts drone on and on. Ugh, speaking of old fart, Miyabe's back again. I bet that bastard's going to try persuade Yamaguchi-san to do something stupid again."

"How're things going with the Kiheitai?" The Kiheitai was an army of volunteers among the Choshu who served directly under Shin-chan. The SatCho elders hadn't approved of this since it meant Shin-chan held a lot more military power and all the squad members placed absolute trust in him. In a way, I guess they were a little like the Shinsengumi. Of course, the Kiheitai were much better, under a leader like Shin-chan nothing can go wrong.

"Ehh, just the usual. We get more and more ronin coming in by the day, but still, it makes me sad to see so much people out of work." Shin-chan sighs and slows his pace "Looks like the age of samurai is truly dying you know?" I nod with understanding. A lot of men in the Tsutomu Tosa ranks were jobless ronin, happy to even do odd jobs to earn some coin. "...my dream is to make a world where samurai don't exist anymore A Japan that can protect itself from the dirty foreigners who try to steal it. People won't need to die needlessly and people like my cute little sister can live easy lives."

"Wouldn't that be nice?" I smile back at him as he skips along happily, balancing his shamisen gently on his shoulder as he walks . Sigh, of course I'm nothing more than Shin-chan's cute little sister. Oh well. "I like your dream...and I'll support you no matter what." He stops skipping and turns to me with glittery eyes "I knew you'd understand! You're welcome to join the Kiheitai anytime Kiri-chan."

Shin-chan smirks as I consider the offer. The Tsutomu Tosa royalists are pretty strong, but thanks to Shin-chan, the Choshu hold a considerable amount of power. Add in the fact that they have Glover-san the foreign merchant and Shin-chan's growing army of loyal men, it's not hard to believe in the possibility of winning. Though most of them are made up of extreme battle hungry men like Miyabe and Yamaguchi who believe violence is the only solution. "I'll think about it. First and foremost, I'm a part of Tosa."

He shrugs with defeat and strums his shamisen idly "Yeah yeah, I know that. But it wouldn't hurt to be more selfish you know?"

I scoff and elbow him "Geez, stop talking like Goro-nii. He said the same thing to me the other day...Shin-chan?" Shin-chan freezes where he is as his eyes are focused on a small figure in the distance. I focus my eyes as the tiny dot appears closer and forms a calmly smiling Katsura Kogoro.. "...Kiri-chan. Cover for me." Shin-chan tosses me his shamisen and begins to flee as Goro-nii sprints quickly "SHINSAKU! Get back! " He easily catches up and grabs Shin-chan by the collar, just as he tries to squirm out of his haori and escape, Goro-nii grabs his arm and holds it in place. "Shame on you Shinsaku. Skipping out on meetings like that. "

"Ugh. Fine fine, I'll come back. Sheesh." Shin-chan groans and rubs his shoulder "Just don't lecture me and I'm good." we both share a smile as Goro-nii sighs and crosses his arms "What am I going to do to make you behave? " His expression becomes serious as he helps Shin-chan up "I've received reports from Kusaka that Choshu will be holding a meeting tonight at Ikedaya. It seems that you and people closely affiliated with you weren't informed of this."

"Hmph. Sounds like someone's jealous of me. That's fine." Shin-chan shrugs arrogantly and flicks his hair " I'll ask Kyo and his pals to give me a heads up. Meetings aren't my thing anyways. Ah, there's a festival today, wanna come with me Kiri-chan?" he snickers and begins walking off as I follow "I'll ask Hirobumi and the others to come too. "  
We ignore Goro-nii who stands patiently waiting for an opening."What about Goro-nii? and I want to go with Onii-sama too." Goro-nii taps his foot and sighs.

"Would it kill you to act a little more responsible?" He moves to stands in front of Shin-chan and I, blocking off chances off escape and launches into his long lectures. Knowing him, we'll probably be standing here for hours. Still, it's been awhile since I went to one of the festivals with Onii-sama or Shin-chan-

"Yugiri. Are you listening to me?"

"Nope."

* * *

**_Annd another chapter done XD thank you again to everyone for reading, following this story!_**

**_Next time: Hmm let's have Izo do it this time! Izo!_**

**_Izo:...*tries to sneak away*...I need to ask Takechi-sensei for permission_**

**_Mei: No! You don't need to ask him! I mean! I already got his permission~_**

**_Izo:... *blinks*ok... Chisai. (Bloody festival)_**

**_Mei:...:D? anything else you want to say? Izo? he's gone!_**


	8. Chisai

_**Heyos~ I sorta updated chapter one with some extra info XP and! I know Tanabata is usually in like...August? but just pretend that the lunar calendar is the same so that its in July like the Gion Festival**_

* * *

_Amid the downpour of red rain, the magpie bridge under my feet crumbles away_

* * *

The main streets of Fuse are decorated with colourful decorations and tall bamboo line the streets with shades of green and yellow. Strips of paper and other decorations like paper flowers flap about in the breeze as they hang on the bamboo branches. Well, it is the Tanabata festival so it's nice to be able to just relax and enjoy the peace while it lasts.

The air is hot and humid as I walk among the crowd with Shin-chan, who obviously snuck off to go to the festival. "Haha! You look a lot better dressed up. Makes you look more like a normal girl now!" I glance a little worriedly at the yukata I'm wearing and frown at Shin-chan "I thought I looked normal most of the time. I mean, I'm usually wearing women's clothing rather than men's but you get the idea. Sheesh." He laughs and smacks me on the back "You'll get it eventually. hahahaha!"

* * *

_"You look pretty good in that. Ah, was that the yukata I sent you?" Kasamori-san jumps excitedly up and down as he sees me wearing the yukata he gave. _

_ "Yes. Well, how exactly did you ...make it so...perfect for me?" I point to the sleeves and show him the extra folds made the perfect size for hiding a gun or knife and the ribbon on the back just right for sliding in a rifle. "..Kasamori-san. I don't know whether to thank you or be scared of you. For being so much like a stalker."_

_His smile falters as he looks at me with a hurt expression on his face "Hey now, I thought we were on a first name basis-" What a surprise. I thought he'd be more insulted about being called a stalker._

_"-that's what you think."_

_"Well then, shall we start now? Call me Oboro." His grip around my hand tightens gently and I allow him to sit closer to me. "...then..." I slowly turn to face him and look him in the eyes. "... call me by my real name. Yugiri. Sakamoto Yugiri."_

_His eyes blink with slight surprise before his signature sleepy eyed smile appears on his face. "Yugiri huh? It suits you. Elusive and beautiful, yet at the same time you're always there."_

_I don't have a response to that so I just nod. I mean, I WAS lying to him almost the entire time. But now, I feel like I can trust him. "Well, thanks for the yukata. Guess I can wear it when I work during summer."_

_"Hey! You actually kept it!" He grins and taps the flowered pin in my hair, letting the chains tinkle lightly as they move. "I was worried that you'd stab another man with it!" He coughs as I punch the wind right out of his lungs and aim a glare at him. "I'm not that violent. Besides, that was a special circumstance. Most men who encounter me die right away. Wish the same could be said for you." _

_Kasamo- I mean Oboro just shrugs and grins "I'm glad you like it. I had it specially made for you all the way in China. You won't find another one like it anywhere. It's called a 'buyao'." He pulls it out from my hair and raises it so I can see clearly. The entire thing is carved with intricate designs of kanji, birds and, higanbana. Amazing. He's either a stalker or extremely attentive to small bits of detail to know about my favourite flower being the higanbana. In a way, it really is a hairpin meant for me alone. Man, how much does he know about me? Or, am I just that easy to read?_

_"Hey Oboro. Thanks...I'll...um...treasure it..."_

* * *

"Shinsh-shansh, dish daiyaki ish good" I point to the half -eaten taiyaki in my hand and give him a thumbs up as I gulp it down " You should have tried some when we were there. Shame."

"Really? let me try.." Shin-chan grabs my hand and takes a huge bite out of the taiyaki I'm holding, completely ignoring my glare as he chews it slowly and nods. "Mmm~ This is pretty good. Haha, let's go get some more."

"Idiot." I toss the rest of the taiyaki at him and stomp off only to barely avoid crashing into someone. "Gah, sorry."

"Ah." A bored looking young woman with a face practically wiped clean of emotions blinks back with faint surprise as I apologise to her "..." She raises her dango stick and points it at me as I groan and try to turn back the other way. "...Sekimu?" My neck cracks as I whirl around with frustration and jab a finger at her "No! It's YUGIRI! You always mispronounce it!"

The woman shoves the dango into her mouth thoughtfully and shrugs "Sorry. Takiri. Ah, Takasugi-dono."

She mispronounced my name again. I contemplate grabbing the remains of her dango and throwing it in her face but stop, this annoyingly emotionless and dense woman is Sumeragi Umeka, despite being a poor excuse of a human being, she's a master blacksmith touted by many as the reincarnation of Masamune. It wouldn't be very good for me to go and piss her off, especially since she's the one who fixes my weapons up for me. "How rare to see you away from the forge." I crack a smile as I attempt small talk with her, which knowing her personality wouldn't go very far. She barely ever talks, preferring to say only what's needed to be said.

"Tagiri, Takasugi-dono." Umeka nods her head at me as I feel my eye twitch "Be careful." She points a finger towards the Fuse district gates and shakes her head slowly "Shinsengumi were at Mimura-dono's ...last week." Mimura-san is one of the Choshu allies, Miyabe and Yamagata-dono often used his place to store equipment or for refuge when they needed it. If the Shinsengumi had been there, most likely they would have discovered the weapons and possibly even arrested or killed the men. Umeka coughs lightly and bows her head "My work is done." We nod gratefully to which she smiles fleetingly and runs off, almost crashing into somebody and then ducking into a sidewalk.

"Hah, she's a really confusing girl isn't she?" Shin-chan laughs and brushes his hair out of his eyes as I rub my aching forehead " Yeah, well you should head home or something, if Ume-chan actually left to warn you, something's up." Shin-chan just shrugs and continues walking without a care as I look cautiously around just in case. "Come on, this is a festival! It won't hurt to relax once in awhile, I'll keep an eye out so we'll be fine."

A flash of blue from a patrolling Shinsengumi's haori makes us duck behind the stand and try to look as unnoticeable as possible. "..." We watch as the Shinsengumi soldier rushes around the area, asking people questions to which they shake their heads and bow politely, before walking away as quickly as possible. I give Shin-chan a 'I told you" glance and he looks the other way with a frown on his face.

Yasuko-san from the tailorshop next to my teahouse waves us over while smiling brightly "Have you written down your wishes yet?" I can't believe I forgot this, one of the highlights of the Tanabata festival was writing wishes on a slip of paper and hanging it onto a bamboo tree.

"Nope, but if you join me, perhaps one of my wishes will come true today." Shin-chan flashes a smile to Yasuko-san to which she blushes and giggles bashfully as I roll my eyes "Ara! Takeuchi -san! I'm a married woman! Teehee, you're such a tease."

"Ok! Here! one for you! and for you!" Shin-chan and I are handed a slip of white paper with brightly coloured flowers decorated all over it and a paintbrush to write."...ooh. The flowers are drawn so realistically I could practically smell them from here." He studies the slip carefully in his hands and nudges me gently "Hey Kiri-chan, what did you wish fo-ow!" I elbow him in the face and hide my paper from him. "That's a secret" He pretends to look sad and shows me his paper "Well, you can see mine!"

I quietly study the slip in my hands and notice that among the bright reds and yellows, there is a series of slightly darker squiggles and lines, which I realise are kanji. It's a hidden message "Katsura. Ikeda. Danger. Shinsengumi. Return . " I glance slowly at Shin-chan and he nods slightly to me and takes mine, hanging them up high on the bamboo. Yasuko-san has already disappeared, though she's done more than enough to help right now.

"Hopefully our wishes come true eh?" Shin-chan is deep in thought as he taps his finger against his arm and frowns "Kiri-chan, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to head back." He ruffles my hair and smiles "don't worry, I'll make it up to you! " I poke him in the chest and smile back "That's ok. Just get me something cool from Glover and we'll call it even eh?"

He disappears into the crowd as I sigh and decide to head there myself, since Shin-chan won't be able to see what's happening at Ikeda , a neutral party such as myself who's associated with Tosa could go without causing any trouble. Besides, I might be able to find more information and help out Onii-sama.

**~X~X~X~**

The smell of blood, fire and sweat is heavy in the air as I run across the rooftops towards Ikeda Inn, situated in the Fuse district. Since I've been to the inn itself quite a few times, the route is familiar to me and I know of some shortcuts. "Kyo!" I leap across the roof as I spot the blue haired man firing his pistols downwards. "Another one?" he whirls around slowly and lazily fires at me, I dodge and glare at him "Geez, couldn't you recognise me?" I pull the cloth around my mouth slowly and poke my tongue at him.

"Yo. If it isn't the Sakamoto kid." He grins at me and lowers his pistols playfully "If you're itching for a fight, then find your own prey." He points downwards with his pistol and fires a shot, resulting in an angry yell from the male standing below us on the street. Inching closer to Kyo, I see Harada from the Shinsengumi in the middle of fighting against Kyo. Another man, Nagakura I think his name was..is also there, waving his sword angrily as he deflects the bullets.

"Kyo. You take the swordsman." I ready my Apache and leap down onto the ground "I have a score to settle with the spearman." Kyo arches an eyebrow and scowls "Hey now, it's not right to just claim someone else's plaything. Let's have a contest to decide eh?"

"Fine." I smile back at him confidently and spin my Apache "First one to bring any of the wolves down to their knees can choose their opponent." I propel myself forward and aim a punch at Nagakura as Kyo's grin widens and he laughs "Sounds good to me!" Harada ducks and leaps to the side, barely managing to dodge Kyo's bullets.

"Tch! What do you Choshu bastards think you're doing?" Nagakura swings forward as I leap up and slam my foot onto his wrist, knocking his sword to the ground. "Oh, you're making a mistake there. We're not Choshu." I stand on his sword and throw a punch at him as he dashes forward to reclaim it, connecting with his arm and sending him staggering back. "Shinpachi!" I suck in my breath and quickly flip backwards, feeling a gush of wind as the yari slides quickly over my body. "Damn, she's fast." Another series of bullets from Kyo forces the two Shinsengumi to move rapidly around, almost like they're dancing as they try dodge the bullets. "yah!" Harada leaps forward and manages to almost strike Kyo, the latter calmly uses his pistols to block and chuckles "Hmm, you're not bad. Better than I expected, sure. Oi human, the name's Shiranui Kyo. You?" Still engaged in a deadlock, Harada manages to crack a smile and tries to push Kyo back "Harada Sanosuke. Captain of the Shinsengumi's 10th division. Ghh. You're pretty good."

Sigh, and while Kyo is messing around with the enemy, Nagakura and I are trying to beat the shit out of each other. Since I threw his swords at the wall behind me, he's been forced to rely on hand-to-hand combat as I throw punches and kicks at him."*pant*pant* You're actually strong..." Nagakura pants heavily as I block his punch and throw him over my shoulder "Ara, you underestimated me." I smirk at him and jump up high, landing on his hand and wrapping my arms around his neck with an Apache pressed against it."Kyo! Looks li-"

"Captain!" More Shinsengumi are approaching and right now, I really don't want to take any chances. I was only supposed to scout out the area and report the situation back to Tosa. "Shit." I run along the roof and leap through the window of Ikeda, tearing the cloth off and throwing it away in the wind as I landing inside an empty room and head towards another.

~X~X~X~

"You there. What do you think you're doing here?" A Shinsengumi officer looks at me as enter ,and points his sword at me threateningly "If you intend to oppose us, we have no choice but to kill you." I remain silent and pretend to look distressed before bursting into tears"*sniffle*I-I...my brother! he's a guest at the inn! I-I..." I curse myself for not thinking this through properly, normally Kazu would be the one who did the thinking...but...he's...not here anymore...

"Yugiri-kun. What are you doing here?" I freeze and peek out from between my fingers as the Shinsengumi man looks at me with a frown. Wait... I do know this guy.."Hirobumi-san?" He nods and glances towards the inside of Ikeda, where a large number of Shinsengumi are marching out, carrying wounded allies and dragging captured Choshu with them. "I was present at the meeting, I couldn't do much to prevent Yamagata-dono from being killed...and Miyabe escaped." He sighs and looks regretfully away "It should have been the other way around. Anyway, you sho-"

"What's going on?" Hijikata of the Shinsengumi approaches us with a few other soldiers following him closely. I squeeze Hirobumi-san's hand warningly as I spot Kondo Isami among the group. "Hijikata-dono. I found on the Ikeda serving girls hiding from the Choshu. " He nudges me forward and I pinch my hand tightly, bursting into tears and trying my best to look like a terrified and innocent girl. "Oh dear, that must have been frightening for you." Kondo Isami looks at me sympathetically as I nod and step on Hirobumi-san's foot, trying to convey the message '_Please! do something to get rid of them!" _Hirobumi-san quickly carries me in his arms and nods to Kondo "I'll escort her home." Hijikata nods and begins shouting orders to other captains as Hirobumi-san runs off with me. "You know, I've heard a lot about your impulsiveness from Shinsaku. Guess he wasn't exaggerating at all."

I mumble a 'sorry' and jump out from his arms "I'm going to Takechi-sama's hideout, since the Choshu were just targeted, the Shinsengumi might aim for Tosa next." Hirobumi-san nods understandingly and "I'm coming with you, they've seen your face so it would be wise to lay low. "

* * *

The atmosphere within the small hallway was tense as amid the cheerful sounds of people celebrating Tanabata from outside, the Choshu ronin were hiding inside a small house belonging to one of their allies. A series of loud and desperate knocks against the door made most of the men tense up with their hands on their swords, ready to fight if the situation called for it. Katsura leant on the door and peeked through a spyhole, then raised a hand behind him indicating that the visitor was an ally.

An injured and very out of breath man collapsed onto the floor as soon as the door was opened. "Furukaze-kun!" Katsura helped him up and directed someone to bring medical supplies and water. "T-t-t...the Shinsengumi!" Furukaze trembled and covered his head with his hands "They managed to infiltrate our meeting at Ikeda and attacked! I...I was able to escape thanks to Itou-dono..."he paused to take shaking breaths and drew his body tighter to himself "...Yamagata-dono...so many of our men...they were KILLED!" Furukaze's eyes widened as tears streamed down his face and he cradled his head in his hands "...I'm so sorry. Takeda-san, Kinoshita-san, Nakata-san...Inoue-kun...I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"What are we waiting for?" A man stood up and began heading towards the door "Let's go help our allies out. The Kiheitai exist for that purpose, right?" Several more men stood up and cheered in agreement, raising their katana in the air to emphasise their approval. "Yeah! Takasugi-sama! Lead the way! We'll erase the damn Mibu wolves easily with you at the front!"

"No." Takasugi stepped in front of them and stood firmly in front of the door, blocking it so nobody could enter or leave the building. "I forbid any of you from leaving this building to aid our friends at Ikeda."

His words were met with shock as the men looked at him like he had just suggested they surrender to the Bakufu. Several of them looked angrily at him as he remained standing where he was. Takasugi glared at his men with a look of anger they rarely ever saw on his face. "Nobody is to leave and aid our allies in Ikeda ." Clenching his fists tightly he withdrew his katana and rested it on his shoulder, ready to strike at any moment. "...anyone who wants to leave, you'll have to fight me first."

"..Coward!"

His words were met with angry glares and shouts of disapproval as the uncontrollable men voiced their opinions loudly. It was one thing if the enemy were a bunch of ronin or other fighters under the shogunate , but going up against the dogs of the Bakufu, especially when the men were in an irrational state of mind would result in nothing but a bloodbath. To make things worse, it was the main 'branch of sorts' of Choshu who were under attack and if he were to send members of his own army to die, his position among the Choshu could be compromised.

"Admit it, you're just scared the Shinsengumi will kill you!"

"Psh. I can't believe I decided to follow a coward like you! Nothing more than a fool who wants to play being a general!"

"We shoulda joined up with Miyabe instead of joining your silly Kiheitai!"

"Huh! Kiheitai? We haven't been allowed to do any real fighting yet?! I shoulda joined up with the other Choshu when I had the chance!"

Takasugi remained uncharacteristically silent, his hands remained curled into fists as he slowly walked to Katsura and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm leaving them to you, Kogoro." Katsura's eyes widened as he prepared to say something, but quickly understood what Takasugi intended and nodded. "Alright."

"Hah! Katsura! If you aren't a coward, you'll let us go aid our comrades!" The men turned their attention to him as Takasugi exited the room and slid the door shut loudly. "You hold a high position among the Choshu don't you? Surely you want to fight against the Bakufu too?"

"Again, I can't let you do that." Katsura's face looked calm and controlled, but anyone who knew him well would realise he was losing patience. "Why can't you all see the bigger picture? as w-"

*KRSSSHH*

A loud smashing sound from next door plunged the room into abrupt silence. The sounds of furniture being thrown against the wall shook loudly through the small building and the men listened quietly. "RGGGGGAAAARGH! DAMMIT!" Takasugi's roars of frustration echoed through as Katsura closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Now do you understand?" Katsura crossed his arms and looked almost chidingly at the men, like they were a group of misbehaving children who needed to be punished. "Takasugi wants to go there and assist our allies more than anyone else. But he can't. As we are now, we cannot stand a chance against the Shinsengumi. He doesn't want to create any unnecessary bloodshed."

A few of the men began murmuring softly amongst themselves while apologetic glances were shared. "However, I'm not Takasugi. Anyone who wants to leave may do so, though, don't expect to return with your life intact."

**~X~X~X~**

"*sigh* what am I going to tell Shigemura-dono about the damage to his property? Blame it on a ronin? " Katsura leant against the doorframe and shook his head as Takasugi leant back against the wall, surrounded by smashed furniture and broken shards of glass and pottery. "*sigh* That temper of yours really needs t-"

"Dammit. If only I were stronger. That way...fuck..." Takasugi raised a bloody arm to his forehead and grit his teeth with anger. "I should have been prepared for something like this." He gathered a bunch of hair in his fists and tightened his grip, growling with frustration at the mental and physical pain. "..dammit."

"You're injured. "

"Forget it. This is nothing." Takasugi stood up and wiped his hand roughly on his haori "Compared to our friends who lost their lives, this is nothing." He grit his teeth and clenched his katana tightly as he messed his hair up angrily " Hey Goro."

"What is it?" Katsura looked up from where he was quietly picking up the broken pieces and stacking them in a corner. "I've decided." Takasugi's face was covered by his hands and hair, but his voice was determined. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make Sensei's dream happen as soon as possible." He stood up and laid a hand on his long time friend's shoulder and smiled sadly at Katsura "Times running out, for all of us. Especially me."

* * *

Safely hidden among the crowd, Hirobumi-san and I watch as the Shinsengumi march down the silent streets, people part ways for them to walk and watch with a mixture of fear and terror. Tch, those bastards. From the gossip I heard here and there, most of our men were caught off guard and unware, even the innkeepers and poor guests who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time hadn't been spared. The main issue for us now though, was that Miyabe had escaped. Knowing a violent and battle hungry man like him, he would be doing whatever he could to seek revenge for our friends. Shin-chan...Goro-nii. I wonder what they would do? If I was in Shin-chan's position, I would probably do the same as Miyabe and pay the Shinsengumi back 100 times.

Then...there was also the rumour a 'golden haired foreigner' was seen leaving Ikeda. The only man I know who matches this description is Glover. Argh, this is all so confusing. Not to mention the stupid oni and tengu mess I've been dragged into.

"You! You!" A desperate female scream changes the mood as the woman who passed the message to Shin-chan and I rushes from the crowd. Yasuko-san. Her face is streaked with tears as she stands in front, forcing them to stop marching.

Kondo Isami opens his mouth to say something, but the girl rushes past him and grabs Hijikata by the collar, tears streaming down her face as she screams "You murdered my husband! How dare you do something so cruel!" Her loud accusing screams echo as the sounds of marching stop. "..Murderers!" She trails off and looks sadly at Hijikata as she slides to her knees and buries her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking violently as she cries loud muffled sobs. "Why did you have to kill my husband!Kenzo-san! he...he's dead..!" Her cries become more and more shrill as she begins sobbing loudly "...how...could you?"

Her accusation hangs in the air as Kondo looks awkwardly at her, almost like he's fighting the urge to comfort her and at the same time maintain his role as an enemy to all associated with the Ishin Shishi. People watching start whispering amongst themselves, shooting hostile glances at the Shinsengumi and taking advantage of this situation to insult them as much as possible.

"how cruel."

"well, ever since they came here they've been killing innocent men."

"Figures. These guys are the lapdogs of the Bakufu."

"Chehyeah, just a bunch of ronin trying to play samurai."

Yasuko-san stands up and pulls a knife from her obi "I'll kill you and avenge my Kenzo-san! " She dashes forward as Kondo looks genuinely confused, one hand on his katana as he hesitates on what to do. "Stop it." Hijikata steps in front and effortlessly holds her knife back with his sheathed sword, plucking it from her hands and shaking his head. "I don't know what you mean, but please calm down."

"Why don't you just kill me too?!" Yasuko-san screams loudly as she stands up "Kill every single person here as well! They're guilty too aren't they!?" She gestures towards the entire crowd , everyone takes a step back and gulps in fear. One thing we all shared was our extreme dislike towards the Shinsengumi, though on the outside most of use try to get on their good side.

"Silence! You bitch!" A Shinsengumi captain charges forward, his sword raised to silence Yasuko. She stands her ground and glares at him as he nears her "Coward. I'll never forgive you."

"Stop it."

"Don't even think about it."

The same moment I step out from among the crowd and move in front of Yaskuo-san, Harada and Nagakura step forward and hold back the captain. He snaps back with frustration and instantly submits with one well- aimed punch from Harada. "Guh! But she's clearly siding with the Shish-" One glance from Hijikata quickly shuts him up and he whimpers, shuffling quietly towards the back of the group.

"Thanks. I thought you would have killed her." I help Yasuko-san up and glare at Hijikata. "I suppose it's nice being able to play samurai, though it doesn't change the fact that a bunch of ronin like you are no better than the Choshu or Satsuma." I lower my voice to a level only Hijikata and Kondo can hear. "I suppose having something like the Ochimizu would make things easier, wouldn't it?"

"...!" Hijikata's eyes narrow as he glances at Yamanami Keisuke and presses his lips together. "...How...You there" His face hardens as he walks over to me, his hand already at his side. "What did you just say?" The infamous glare which earned him the nickname of the 'demon vice- commander' is engraved on his face as I remain standing where I am and smirk.

"Oh? Don't tell me you're going to kill me too?" I can't help but taunt him. A man like him wouldn't be able to strike me down. "I would have expected you to at least kidnap me for experiments or something."

" Shinsengumi-dono!" Onii-sama rushes out and drags me roughly to the ground, pushing my head against it and kneeling down next to me "I sincerely apologise for my sister's behaviour. She's feverish and not right in the head."

"Ah.I see." Hijikata speaks slowly and nods as Onii-sama drags me back with him "Make sure she stays home and takes her medicine."

"Kiri-chan." Onii-sama holds my hand tightly and turns my head so that I'm facing him. I try to avert my gaze but he taps my cheek gently, and clears his throat disapprovingly "Don't ever do that again." He looks at me with a disappointed face and shakes his head slowly as I hang my head and mumble 'sorry, Onii-sama.'. Why is Onii-sama here though? I could have sworn he was still with Takechi-sama. Oh no. The reality finally dawns on me. Onii-sama saw everything, he's probably really mad now. He might take my weapons away like last time... "Um...Onii-sama...I kinda need to-" He cuts me off with a shake of his head and sighs. "You're talented at worrying people to death, it's funny." He smiles softly and hugs me "Promise me you won't do something like this again."

I shut my eyes and nod "ok. Sorry." Onii-sama pats my head softly "Promise me. Kazu's not around anymore and neither is Oboro so there's nobody else who can talk sense into you."

"I'm not a kid anymore." He laughs and pushes me back with a smile "Really now. Well, we should head back, Izo-kun found out something about the Ochimizu. Apparently Glover was seen handing it to a man associated with the Bakufu." I gape at him and he nods "Yes, what you're thinking is correct. Takechi-sama should be able to tell you more."

* * *

**_Thanks so much to Toxi-chan and Aoi! You guys are awesome! anyways... Yugiri can do the next chapter preview this time!_**

**_Yugiri: NOW I get to do it? I'm the freaken main character! Anyway, next time : 'Kimi to deatta higeki no naka de..."_**

**_Mei: It means 'in this tragedy, where I encountered you..." ooh! Suspense! (i hope ) Does this mean something might happen between Yugiri and that special someone~ :D?_**

**_Yugiri: *is playing with her Spence* Ah man, I'm worried about Izo-kun._**

**_Mei:...ahahaha.._**


	9. Kimi to deatta higeki no naka de

_In the field of higanbana, I finally met you again_

* * *

"Where's Takechi-dono?" Onii-sama looks questioningly at the group of unfamiliar men standing quietly inside the room. Takechi-sama is nowhere in sight, in fact there's nobody I recognise at all. Nakaoka-san is probably still somewhere else in Kyoto and these men here all have the same rough, dishevelled look of the new recruits from Shikoku.

"Don't ask me. I was told to wait here with my men." The silence is broken by a clear, slightly immature voice belonging to a much younger feminine looking boy with a permanent smirk on his face as he crosses his arms and shrugs. "You're that Sakamoto guy, aren't you?" He chuckles as Onii-sama nods in affirmation and grins mockingly at him "You're a hero among the Tosa. All the guys are singing your praises and, I'll bet Takechi couldn't handle the jealousy and ran off."

Onii-sama removes his hands from the hilt of his sword, determining that this kid isn't a threat, but is also one of us and shakes his head. "That's... impossible." His hand reaches for his katana again and stays there, resting gently as he tightens his fist and shakes his head. There have been rumours of Onii-sama and Takechi-sama being conflicted with one another , mostly since Onii-sama is a firm believer of using political power rather than strength to overthrow the Bakufu; while Takechi-sama believes the only method is by the sword. Considering that most of our allies in Tosa are split between the two, its probably something that would be troubling Onii-sama deep down. He clears his throat softly and looks at the boy " That aside, I haven't seen you before. I'm sure it is common courtesy to introduce yourself, is it not?"

"Hmph. I'm Nagumo Kaoru." The boy smirks and shifts his posture so he is slouching against the wall "Takechi put me in charge of leading the new recruits of Division 7. Bet you wouldn't expect eh?" From his tone of voice, he's trying to provoke Onii-sama, though, that's not going to do anything since Onii-sama is the calmest person I know. Now that I think about it, I've never seen Onii-sama get angry before, even when scolding me, he's always got a smile on his face-

"What else did he tell you?" Hirobumi-san cuts in to which Nagumo-san shrugs dismissively "I forget." Hirobumi frowns at him to which Nagumo-san snickers "Well, maybe he said something about heading somewhere to meet with a certain foreign merchant? Who knows?"

Glover was last seen with a Bakufu man, I'm willing to guess it was one of the question now was, why would Takechi-sama have disappeared but only alerted a no name guy like Nagumo of his whereabouts? Hmm, the girls at Shimabara might have a clue, the Ikedaya massacre was just yesterday, and since the Gion festival is happening now, there's a high chance that SOMEONE might have heard something. Perhaps my best chance right now would be to ask around.

"Kiri-chan, where are you going now?" One little thing I don't like about Onii-sama is how he practically knows what I'm going to do, yet he still asks me despite this. I hug him quickly and smile "Nowhere really Onii-sama. I'm just going to search around for information ." He sighs and looks pointedly at me "I trust you, but try to keep your cool, alright?"

* * *

"You know, I was wondering.." Ryunosuke looked sideways at Kosuzu as she delicately ate the dango while swinging her legs as they sat on a bench near the temple. "What is it Ryu-sama?" Kosuzu smiled sweetly back at him innocently as he turned beet red and then made a spluttering sound. "that!" He pointed angrily at her "Even though we've been...g-going out for awhile, you still speak all formal to me. It's so weird...ah."

Kosuzu's face was lowered as she stared at her feet and clenched her fingers tightly around the dango stick. "..I am sorry. When I entered Shimabara, it was the expectation to speak Kyoto-ben. If I...spoke normally, my mother would beat me." She tightened her fists and shuddered involuntarily

"Argh! That's all so messed up!" Ryu messed up his hair with frustration and blew some stray strands off his face with a huff "You can't choose what to wear, how to speak, you're not allowed to leave whenever you want, what's so great about being a geiko?" his voice rose as he stood up "I know! L-let's run away! I don't know exactly how, but let's run away together. Nobody will find out!" as soon as the idea popped into Ryunosuke's head, he started getting more excited, pumping his fists as he spoke quickly "The Gion festival goes for 2 weeks, people will be coming back and forth, during the parade, I'll bring a normal clothes for you to wear and you can leave that hell. Harada-san might be able to help us out, Kasamori-san too...Kosuzu-chan?"

While Ryunosuke had been excitedly planning their elopement, Kosuzu was silently staring at her hands, a sad expression on her face as she looked torn. "...I...am sorry." She lifted her teary face and sniffled softly "I am extremely honoured you would go so far for me, however...the thought of leaving...has not ever occurred to me. " she looked at the brightly coloured red lanterns of Shimabara glowing among the black roof tiles and shook her head sadly " Many girls have tried to escape before. Karyu-sama or her men always manage to find them. The men are killed without mercy, and the girls...they...they have their legs broken. Without legs, they cannot perform for guests, therefore have no choice but to sell their bodies to survive." Tears fell down Kosuzu's cheeks as she continued, Ryu quietly held her hand in his hand said nothing. "I had a friend."

Kosuzu sniffled lightly and dabbed gently at her eyes "Ayuri-neesan. When I first entered Shimabara, nee-san was the one to take care of me and help me out. One day, she fell in love with a customer. He was a man within the Roshigumi. Then..." Kosuzu tightened her grip around Ryunosuke's hand and continued "Neesan told me she was running away...that was the last time I saw her alive. Karyu-sama found out. Ayuri nee-san was killed, by her lover who was forced to kill her, and then himself."

"Kosuzu-chan...damn, I'm sorry." Ryunosuke cleared his throat awkwardly as he struggled to find the right words to say. "It is alright." Kosuzu smiled lightly at him and stared at the sky "If you do not mind, I have a favour I would like to ask." Ryunosuke nodded and waited for her to speak "Tomorrow is the Obon Festival. I must perform at Shimabara so could you place some offerings on Ayuri-neesan's grave for me?"

"...sure."

* * *

Takechi-sama is standing on the steps of the temple, looking down at a crowd of people...wait...those aren't people at all. Oh kamisama... since when did Takechi-sama decide to use the Ochimizu?

"TAKECHI-SENSEI!" Izo quickly draws his sword and leaps down from the roof. Takechi-sama smirks at him and unsheathes his katana, swinging the blade once and beckoning Izo with his pinky. "So, my student thinks he has a chance of defeating me, the teacher? Hmph." He snickers and dodges easily as Izo swings forward "I'm the one who made you the feared hitokiri. I can read all your moves just like a book."

One of the main differences between Izo and other swordsmen, was the way he wielded his katana. While the typical users held the blade with both hands aligned in the same direction, Izo held it with his right hand facing inwards and his left hand facing outwards, resulting in his blade always moving in an upwards strike rather than the normal downwards swing. Add in his speed, this made him an unpredictable and deadly opponent. Now that I think about, those of us among the 4 great hitokiri all have a unique way of wielding the katana. Izo with his upward slashes, Kirino onii-chan with his technique of combining different styles together, Setsura's preference for fighting with a wakizashi and its sheathe; and as for me, well I could never master the katana, rather, I always ended up using it like a whip. Onii-sama had always complained my moves were too fluid, too free which meant my opponents would end up cut to ribbons instead of going down in one strike.

"_Ikuzo."_ Izo raises his blade and swiftly steps to the right, then to the left, each time moving forward quickly and striking upwards with his blade. I recognise this stance as one of his signature moves, the first strike is to trick the opponent into switching to the defensive, the second strike closes in on the opponent and the final strike makes use of his deadly speed to perform two consecutive slashes, then ending with a final slash.

"Kuhh" Takechi-sama grunts with exertion as he knocks back Izo's blade and skids backwards, his hand pressed over his chest. "I never thought it would come to this, however, you leave me with no choice. Take...THIS!" All of a sudden, Takechi-sama is a grey blur, moving quickly forward as Izo yells as he gets slashed in the lower arm and manages to block the next strike. Both their movements slow down as the master and student are engaged in a deadlock. Next to me, Onii-sama gasps and places a hand on my shoulder for support. "..It can't be.." His eyes are wide with shock as he points to Takechi-sama "Takechi-dono... How could you betray us? After what all we said?"

Right at that moment, the man facing Izo is no longer the strict but kind Takechi-sama I knew. Actually, I'm not even sure he could be called a 'man' anymore. The being fighting Izo looks exactly like one of the rasetsu, though the face belongs to Takechi-sama. "Izo-kun! Takechi-dono is longer human! You-

"Haha, I must say, the men of Tosa are far superior to the worthless trash from the Bakufu." A bald man slips out from beneath the shadow of the forest, tucking his arms calmly into his sleeves as he dips his head in greeting. " It was a poor miscalculation on my part thinking the dogs of the Shogun could ever hope to master the power of an oni. "

Takechi throws his head back and sneers, "Of course. See those two there?" He jerks a finger at Izo and I as Kodo narrows his eyes at us with an almost hungry look on his smug face. "Two of the feared legendary hitokiri. Yet, with these new powers I've received, they are nothing before my strength. Yes, it was a good thing I allied myself with you and Glover." He withdraws a folded up sheet of paper from within his kimono and tosses it into the air "Henceforth, I have no need to rely on scum like Sakamoto or Nakaoka. Together with the Ochimizu, the day I can unite Japan will be soon."

"I can't let that happen." Izo steps in front of him , his katana just millimetres from Takechi's neck. "Especially since you're...sensei. " He prepares to swing his sword up to deal a finishing blow when,"Not yet! " Takechi gnashes his teeth and punches Izo, forcing him to flip backwards, landing on his feet as he crouches low. "...sensei.." Izo clutches his head and frowns as he tries to regain his sense of balance.

"Kodo..." I'm certain that I've heard that name before. he looks at me and Onii-sama and tilts his head "Oh?" His eyes narrow as he looks curiously at me then smirks "You must be the human woman who the Yonaga brat was trying to protect back then."

"What? Are you stupid? I was the one protecting him the whole ti-" I stop suddenly as I realise what he said. 'Yonaga' Even I hadn't known Oboro's real surname was Yonaga until the day before. "T-then you're-"

"Of course." He smiles as though I said something very obvious and shrugs "I was the one who killed him." At that moment, it feels like someone just punched me hard in the stomach and followed up with a stab into the heart, then left the knife there. "...you what?" I fire at him, blowing a hole in his side which quickly heals. Dammit. he's one of them. "How dare..you.." I aim again, though just as I prepare to pull the trigger, a bolt of lightning strikes downwards at Kodo, only to crackle erratically and disappear as a thin wall of ice appears in front of him. Who is it now?

**~X~X~X~**

"If it isn't Yukimi-no-miya. Still hiding in your father's shadow I see."

Setsura bites her lip and frowns, taking out a tessen from within her obi and flicking it open gracefully as she looks thoughtfully at him. "Ah. I suppose you were after...this?" She takes a small gourd from within her sleeves and dangles it teasingly by the rope around the neck. "The legendary wine of my ancestor. Said to grant those who drank it immeasurable power?" Kodo's hands stretch towards the gourd as Setsura licks her lips and chuckles "Fool. As if I'd allow someone like you to even touch it."

A blast of wind surrounds her, whipping the leaves everywhere and disappearing just as quickly. Setsura's long black hair is now a shade of red, almost like blood; a pair of long black horns spiral from her head as she licks her lips, revealing pointed teeth. Strange markings adorn her chest, glowing faintly in the dull light. "Under the orders of my father, the Oni-oh and the Daitengu of Mt. Kurama, I'll kill you." Lightning crackles around her as she shoots Kodo an icy glare and purses her lips tightly.

"To think the Imperial oni princess would fight me at full power." Kodo looks amazingly calm as Setsura scowls at him and opens her tessen to attack. "SETSURA! GET OUT OF MY WAY" I aim my Spence at her to which she blinks back with confusion and opens her mouth in protest. "what do you thi-... Y-yu-chan...you.." She gapes at me as I fire a shot, slicing past her cheek which instantly heals and embeds itself into a nearby tree. "why?"

"He killed Oboro...he's MY prey." I fire again , forcing her backwards as she slams against a tree and coughs "you're crazy. I can't believe someone like you could fight me at full strength." I look directly at her as she closes her eyes and nods slowly "I understand. I'll respect your wishes, though I promise you he won't die so easily. Consider yourself warned."

I easily catch up to Kodo as Setsura disappears in a flash of light, just like last time. The tiny fires in the forest a reminder that she actually had been here. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I fire at him, shooting him in the shoulder and jump, landing just in arm's distance from him as he calmly places a hand over his bleeding wound and shrugs. "I'm simply doing what's necessary." The wound quickly heals and he looks arrogantly down at me with a sneer on his face. "A mere human like you won't be able to kill me. Now! My experiments! attack!"

A group of Rasetsu emerge from the forest, staggering as their eyes gleam red. Tch! I swear and sweep a line down as I fire in a circle. Dammit, my Spence is almost out of rounds. Guess I'll have to switch to using my Apache.

"GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" Dammit. Just how fast are oni compared to humans anyway? I leap from branch to branch, almost like I'm flying as I try to catch up to Kodo .'Qinggong' Oboro had called it. A martial art from China which was on par with Ninjutsu. Dammit, theres still so much I don't know about him. About the man who was able to steal my heart back then.

**~X~X~X~**

"_Gotcha_" I slash at Kodo, managing to form a deep gash in his stomach, spilling the contents outwards and onto me. "You killed Oboro-san! tell me everything!"

"*cough*" Blood dribbles from his mouth as he looks at me with frustration and retches in pain as I strike again, aiming for his arm. *Skkrshh* A Rasetsu drawn by the overpowering stench of blood throws itself into the path of my naginata and gets neatly sliced in two; twitching and groaning as it hits the ground. "Get the FUCK out of my way!" More and more rasetsu pour into the forest, their red eyes gleam in the dim moonlight as I try to carve a path to reach that cursed oni.

"KODO! Don't even _think_ I'll let you leave alive!" I hack through a group of moaning rasetsu, furiously wiping my eyes as the blood and body matter splatters over me in the process. "Haha. You're quite amazing, for a human that is." Kodo's calm yet sinister voice drifts across the sounds of beastly growling as I try pinpoint his location. "However, even a killing machine like you must be reaching your limit by now."

He's right. There's absolutely no way anyone, any _human_ could possibly continue to fight at full strength in a situation like this. No matter how many Rasetsu I cut down, the number seems to never change, they keep coming like a flood. The fatigue is gradually getting to me, as I feel my arms getting heavier and can feel my reaction time getting duller. My legs start to wobble as I dash through the unending stream of rasetsu, even though we're in the city area, they're still coming.

did he go? I leap onto the roof and turn my head around, trying to spot any fleeing persons down below. ...! damn, I'm nearing my limit now. "...*cough*" I barely manage to avoid being stabbed in the chest, twisting my body sideways and instead receiving a gash on the side of my shoulder. "Heh, don't underestimate me." I clutch the wound tightly with my left hand, and with my right load my pistol and fire. "Kyuh!" Kodo gets shot right in the heart, tch, I can't kill him this way. Dammit. He's running away again "Get back here! You fucken coward!"

Ah, he seems to have stopped in front of a temple. Strange. It looks familiar. Why?...have I been here before? Ugh! Stay focused! I bite the inside of my cheek and use up the last of my energy, putting all my strength into my fist as I do a spinning leap towards Kodo.

*KRNCH*

I strike him head on, but it seems the blow wasn't fatal. "GYAAAAAAH!" A burning pain hits me the moment Kodo grabs a katana and stabs in into my thigh, twisting it around and pulling it out quickly. "...uraahh!" he snickers and raises it again, trying to finish me off for good. "...grrr." The katana slices through my left hand as I divert it from reaching my neck. "..don't...think I'll let you escape." I try to tighten my grip around his arm, clawing my fingers through his skin as he suddenly looks panicked. "heh, you've done well to injure me this much. Well done human. Now then, I'll need to erase that meddling Imperial Princess and the Kazama scion."

.dammit. Don't fucken run away! My vision is starting to blur into a sea of red as I feel the blood dripping down my face, joining the mask of dried blood already there. "...I'll...kill you.." I feel my vision start to blur into a sea of red and black as Kodo's back gets smaller and smaller. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Onii-sama...help me.

* * *

"Geez. It's not like you to laze around like this. C'mon, wake up."

...huh? I have no idea where I am right now, but this sensation feels so warm...so comforting, almost like I'm a little girl again and Onii-sama is hugging me. Wait. That voice...I sit up quickly and gape, pointing my finger at the man in front of me with a 'hyeeeeeeh?' of shock.

"Hyeeeeeeeh' to you too." He glances at me with a disinterested expression and flicks a leaf off his kimono sleeve with a sigh. "It's a little painful when the per-gwuh?-

-KAZUUUUUUUUUUUU!" He partially chokes as I fling my arms around him in a tight hug and squish him with my arms as I yell into his chest "I'm so sorry! KAZU! How could you just leave me like that!KAZZZZUUUUUUUUUUU!...wait...am I dead?"

"...You never change." Kazu manages to catch his breath and smiles at me "I should be the one to say sorry. Nope, I'm not going to hear your excuses." he raises a hand and shakes his head as I try to unleash a barrage of words. "Besides, there's someone else who deserves this moment more than I do. Over there. " I glance in the direction of Kazu's thumb. Sitting among the river of higanbana is a white haired man, my heart beats rapidly in my chest as I notice his uniquely designed black kimono and the way he has his haori tied around his waist like a drunkard...well, If Kazu's here...then..

"...Oboro-san?" He turns his head around and grins at me "the one and only-whoa! hey now!" he leaps in front of me and places a finger on my lips as I attempt to stammer something "You look even prettier no-ouch" I smack him in the face and glare as he grins broadly "You've gotten a lot stronger too, how's Ryo handling the flood of suitors eh?" He stops and takes my hand off his face, curling his fingers around mine as I look at him. "...I..." I hang my head and point to the spot where the buyao should be."that buyao you gave me..I lost it."

"That's ok." Oboro smiles and pulls my face close to his "did you expect me to be the kind of person who'd want to burden the girl I love?" I shake my head gently and shut my eyes as he tilts his head and -

"Don't worry about my being here. Honestly." Kazu folds his arms, one hand tucked inside his kimono and the other clutching the opposite elbow; a habit he never grew out of and looks sideways at me and Oboro. "...Aw, you couldn't allow me to be selfish just this once?" Oboro looks almost pleadingly at Kazu who shrugs " It's time. Yugiri."

He jerks a finger at the river of flowers which has seemingly increased, now appearing to be a sea of red as they flow towards a red torii. "The living shouldn't be among the dead for too long-

"-But..there's so much I want to say" Kazu shakes his head and moves his fingers into a sign I recognise as 'river'. He smiles gently at me as I hesitate and mirror him, except my fingers form the sign 'mountain'. "You're my best friend, Kiri. I'll always be on your side. It's time you started living for yourself, not for Ryoma nii-san or anyone else."

Oboro doesn't say anything and gives me another long hug "Thank you for everything, Yugiri." I feel a faint trace of a tear threaten to escape my eyes as the a red mist rises from the flowers and starts to cover everything. "Kazu! Oboro! Don't go! " They start to fade away as the fog thickens to a deep red blur but I can faintly hear Oboro's voice "When help comes from the east, accept it."

"Wait! Oboro! What do you mean? Kazu? What's going...on?"

**~X~X~X~**

"-right? –ta-sa- wake!"

head feels strange, as though somebody is using it as a wadaiko and screaming loudly in my ear at the same time. What happened after Kodo managed to escape from me? Everything is a hazy fog to me. I groan and slowly twitch my hands. Thank goodness, I can somewhat move them around.

"Ah! You're awake! Thank goodness!" A very excited sounding young girl close to me exclaims loudly, guh! her voice is so damn loud!

"...Shizu..chan?" I slowly open my eyes and quickly clench my right eye shut as a wave of pain jolts my head. "...Onii-sama...?" A pink blur surrounded by a bunch of other colours, green, white and blue? If this is the afterlife, then what kind of hell is this supposed to be? "It's ok. Matsumoto-sensei treated your wounds. You're going to be fine!" She continues to chirp loudly as the pounding in my head intensifies and my vision starts to clear. The young girl is none other than Chizuru-san. She smiles brightly at me as I groan in response and try to sit up "oh! You're still very hurt! Try to relax!" She lays a hand on my shoulder trying to force me back down as I ignore her and try to sit up.

"Guh." I I tense from the pain and pull off the kimono blanketing me, taking a look at my right leg which feels like its been twisted the wrong way. A piece of wood is firmly strapped to my leg and bandages have been wrapped tightly around my thigh. Faint red patches seep from the bandages as I struggle to sit up but fail "Whoa! Calm down ojou-san!" Two men seated at my side rush to help me back down. As soon as I recognise them, I feel my head threaten to explode. oh Kamisama. No...why...how the hell did I end up here? Not only am I injured and unarmed, but I'm right in the den of the Mibu wolves. Knowing them, they would most likely interrogate me, perhaps even execute me as a criminal, its not everyday a famed assassin appears on the brink of death at your doorstep. No way I'd accept that. I'd rather die than submit to them.

"Ungh...*huff*...ugh.." I clamp a hand over my chest and tense my body, pretending to be in extreme pain. "W-what's wrong?" Chizuru rushes closer to me, knocking over the small bowl next to her. In that instant, I snatch the wakizashi hanging at her waist and throw her across the room. Before anyone can react, I tear open the nagujuban I'm wearing and raise the sword up high, preparing to slice it through my stomach. "Forgive me for not avenging your deaths! Kazu, Oboro. I'm coming!" As I speak, I drive the blade down towards my stomach -

*KLANG*

...? Expecting to feel a wave of excruciating pain, I instead feel a cool surface pressed against my stomach. Looking down, I see the wakizashi's point has been blocked from slicing through my stomach by a katana, which managed to block the strike in time.

"*whew*" Harada whistles and slowly pulls back the katana from my stomach, in that brief moment, he had somehow anticipated what I would do and stopped me from committing hara-kiri. "It takes guts for a man to accept his fate and die with honour, for a woman though." he whistles and smiles respectfully at me "I really admire that sort of strength, in anyone. Especially from a mysterious female assassin." I stare back at him, stony-faced and glare angrily. "Hmph. I bet you thought theres no way a woman like me could be the famed hitokiri 'Benigaw-

-Chizuru-san, I brought the banda-huh? Is that... Kasamori-san?"

At that moment, the person I least want to meet stops where he is and points a finger at me questioningly. Ryu-kun looks at Chizuru and everyone else, then back at me with a look of pure confusion. "What are you doing here? Wait, are you the lover of one of these guys?" he gestures around the room at the selection of attractive men and tilts his head.

"WHAT THE HELL? HOW DID YOU COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?.! ugh! my wound..."I yell loudly at him from where I'm sitting and toss the nearest thing at him. A bowl of water arcs across the room, hitting him right in the face, sending him tumbling back with a yelp of surprise as he crashes through the door. "Ryu-kun. You're an idiot. A complete idiot."

Ryu-kun slowly sits up and rubs his aching head, muttering a 'yeah, that's definitely Kasamori-san. Tch, that violent temp-owww!" He shuts up as Nagakura clocks him on the head and swears through his teeth. "Huh?" Harada looks at me and back at Ryu-kun with surprise "Ryu-kun, you know her?" The red-haired akuma has a strange smile on his face as he looks thoughtfully at us. "Maybe that's why she looked so familiar...hmm."

"Awwright!" Nagakura slaps Ryu-kun heartily on the back and grins at me "Don't you worry ! Your secret's safe with us." he winks and gives me a thumbs up "You're lucky Chizuru-chan was the one who found you, if it were Toshi or Sanan-san, you'd be tied up in our prison. Considering that you know about the Ochimizu as well..."

"Oh, you remember me. "I grunt in response and shrug "I'm so honoured. Now that my life has been spared, I'll take my leave now." As soon as I move to stand up, my injured right leg refuses to cooperate and sends me crashing towards the ground...and right into Harada's arms. "You shouldn't be moving around like that. Just relax and stay here until you can walk again." His golden eyes twinkle mischieviously as I move my face away from him "besides, I don't think you'd be able to work in this condition."

Ryu-kun looks at me stunned and points a finger almost accusingly at me "You mean..." he points to my neatly folded signature red kimono and black shokozu lying in the corner with my weapons "...The legendary hitokiri Benigawa Oborodzuki is ..._Kasamori OSHO? _NO WAY!" he clutches his head with confusion and shakes it quickly with disbelief. "There's no way that abusive woman could be someone like that!"

I glare at him and scoff "I am so very sorry. Hmm, now that I think about it, you owe me something for saving your life the other day." He crosses his arms and scowls "T-that? P-pfft! I never asked for your help! In fact, you're the one who ALWAYS insists on helping me. It's so troublesome-gyah!"

"Hahaha!" The sound of Harada laughing momentarily stops our competition of insults. I look questioningly at Ryu-kun who shrugs and looks annoyed at Harada. "What is it now?"

Harada chuckles and smiles warmly at us, as much as I hate to admit it, he's not that bad looking. Gah! Stop it Yugiri. Remember, no matter how attractive those Shinsengumi bastards are, they are still murderers. "Ah, so you two are good friends." Harada grins and gives Ryu-kun a knuckle sandwich "Hey Ryu-kun, why didn't you introduce me to Sho-san sooner?"

"Because she's a foul mouthed person who'd scare off all the men." he scoffs and points his finger at me with a scowl "Just look at her! With a temper like that, not to mention she's violent." He flinches as I glare at him and then covers his face as he points at me "..you might want to cover up Osho-san."

I glance down and pale. My bandaged chest is exposed to everyone. "Nobody saw anything." I speak quietly and threateningly at them as I put my nagajuban back on. "_Understand?"_

**~X~X~X~**

Some bastard had enough brains to work out that my weapons shouldn't be left here and put them away somewhere else. Chizuru-san and Ryu-kun are loitering near the door, ocaisonally peeking in while pretending to be busy mopping the floor. Obviously, they're acting as guards in case I try something funny. Regardless, even in this condition I could probably disable them easily. The only significant injury I have is my leg, though I still have use of my other one and can probably manage to climb ...ah! I spot an open window, leading to a roof and escape.

..hup! Focusing my strength, I stretch my hands out and jump, grabbing hold of the wooden beam across the window and allow my legs to dangle in the air. Now...to pull myself up onto the roof. Guh...I haven't been injured so badly in a long time, right now it feels like someone is trying to stretch me by pulling my legs downwards. Guh..keep trying Yugiri! You have to escape from her-

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Somebody or maybe some people rush into the room and try pull me down. "You're injured! Just stay put and relax!" Harada grabs me by the waist and holds me in his arms. "Why are you so desperate to leave?"

Uh well, you know, since I'm a HITOKIRI I'm a criminal, therefore I wouldn't want to EVER be in a place like this? Something about an execution perhaps? Then again, Nagakura and the others had promised to keep my 'real' identity a secret on the condition I was to stay here until my injuries had lessened. The first thing I can think of to pass as a good excuse bursts out of my mouth before I can think again "...uh...it's the Obon Festival so I wanted to visit someone's grave..." I respond weakly as I stare at my hands with fake embarrassment and guilt. I hear the sound of laughter as he chuckles and starts laughing so hard he puts me down onto the ground. Tch. At least he seems to buy it. I frown at him "...is that so surprising? That someone like me wants to tend to a grave?"

"No! Hahaha!" He grins at me "I actually think it's cute." I deadpan at him and grunt "Cute is not something you associate with me. And definintely not something you'd say when talking about a dead man. Why do you people even care?" He looks questioningly at me as I continue "Why on earth would you treat a hitokiri and even offer protection from your superiors? It doesn't make sense. You're aware of what I do, correct?" He nods and stays silent "Remember Kiyokawa? or Kanichiro? For a man renowned as the strongest among the Shinsengumi, he was pathetically weak. I killed them. Sooner or later, either you, your friends or your comrades will be next. Maybe even all of them."

"You're a hitokiri, a blade that exists to kill... and I respect that. You gotta fight for what you believe in. Even if your beliefs happen to be the very opposite of what I believe in, in the end it's your warrior spirit that I respect most of all." He looks at me with genuine respect and then grins "Besides, its not everyday you see someone stand up to Toshi like that. Takes alotta guts you know."

"...you're so much like _him. _I _hate _that._"_ Harada looks at me with confusion as I groan and rub my head "..excuse me?" He frowns as I glare at him "nothing. Forget I said anything."

"So, shall we go?" He winks at me and grins as I look dumbly back. "Go where?"

"To that grave you wanted to visit." Before I can protest, he easily lifts me onto his back and starts heading out the back. "OI! PUT ME DOWN! BASTARD!" I curl my arms around his neck, attempting to strangle him as he freezes and taps my hand feebly "...l-let go..please." I ignore him and pull his ear closer to me, earning a 'ouch' of pain as I whisper harshly into his ear "I don't know what you're planning, but you better watch your back. Try anything funny and you wi-

"...you two really are lovers, right?" Ryu-kun appears out of nowhere, carrying a small bag as he crosses his arms and looks suspiciously at us. "NO! WE ARE NOT! YOU SAY ONE MORE WORD AND I WILL SLIT THAT IDIOTIC NECK OF YOURS!"

Ryu scowls and walks off quickly muttering a "..and that's why you're single. Sheesh." as he passes us. That idiot! HOW could he possibly come to that conclusion? True, Harada MAY be _slightly _like another Shin-chan and Oboro-san...argh! Stop thinking too much Yugiri!

* * *

**_Ok..since this might be kinda confusing... Sen and Chizuru are both referred to as 'hime' which is 'princess' but more closer to something like a noble lady. Setsura is referred to as 'no-miya' which is kinda like the highest standing of princess, so she's higher ranked and more powerful than Sen. Oh! and since Shuten Doji (I based Setsura's oni form on the KOEI TECMO version XD) is the 'oni king' it makes sense for Setsura to be super strong XD_**

**_and! In Urakata, at around this point, after Ikedaya, Takechi disappears and ends up using the Ochimizu, so I made him join up with Kodo (for plot :P) Plus since Yugiri is from Tosa, it makes sense to focus more on the Tosa guys instead of Choshu/Satsuma (everyone seems to love them lol!) Also! The Gion Festival goes for like 2 weeks or so, and is a festival only celebrated in the Gion (red light) district. This means that other festivals like Obon and Tanabata can happen at the same time!_**

**_* making the ninja sign for 'mountain' and responding with the opposite 'river' symbolises friendship. I got it from Hattori Hanzo's camp conversation in WO3U XD I thought it was cool. *ahem*_**

**_~ Thank you Vanny for helping me! and for everyone else who is reading, reviewing and everything!_**

* * *

_**OK, since Kazu aka Mimegumi Kazunari appears in this chapter...let's have him do the introduction!**_

_**Mimegumi Kazunari: So did Oboro. Whatever. let's just get to the point. The next chapter is ' Dare hitori sukuenai' . Which means : 'You can't save anyone'**_

_**Mei:...! OuO/ hey! I was meant to say that!**_

_**Kazu:...my bad. *shrugs* **_

_**Mei: I'll kill you! How could my creation rebel against me! *sobs***_

_**Kazu: I'm already dead. You killed me off at the beginning. *smirks* remember?**_

_**Mei:...**_


	10. Dare hitori sukuenai

**_Uwaaah! TvT I'm so busy with real life right now and it sucks! Anyways! hope you (if anyone is reading this XPPP) enjoy! *cries and runs back to a mountain of homework*_**

* * *

_You might think your kindness is saving me; but in reality, your kindness is killing me_

* * *

_"Is that all you can do?" Onii-sama withdraws his bokuto and cracks his knuckles as I grind my teeth with frustration. "Land one hit on me, and I'll let you practice with the rifle. Until then, you won't be allowed near one, my dear sister." That's the deal we had agreed on, though...blindfolding me and tying my left hand behind my back was NOT what I had in mind. I spit out the blood and slap my hand against the wall, pulling myself up as Onii-sama moves towards me. "On your feet!" I hear the sound of rustling ...maybe he's raising his arm? Ugh, it's hard having your sight cut off from you. "Get up! Right now you're asking for death, or are you giving up?"_

_"Rgh! I won't give up so easily! but this is just dumb!" I throw a punch in front of the darkness in front of me, hoping that I might be able to land a very unlikely hit. "Dumb? Oh dear, in a real battle, even if you've lost an arm, a leg or an eye as long as your heart is still beating, you can't give in. You have to do whatever you can to survive" Onii-sama grabs my arms and throws me across the room "if this was a real battle, you'd be dead in a flash! Now! Stand up and try again!"_

_"Graaaah!" My face smacks against the wall and I hold my head for a few seconds to regain my sense of balance. I manage to hold myself up unsteadily and raise my fists angrily as I hear Onii-sama's footsteps approaching. Normally, Onii-sama is the kindest and most gentle person, though since he decided to teach me, he's even more harsh and unforgiving than Kirino Onii-chan._

_Kirino Onii-chan had been teaching me basic hand to hand combat for the past few years, of course Ane-ue didn't know anything about it, although she probably thought I got myself into another fight again. Then I'd get lectured and Onii-sama would rescue me from a horrible punishment. Though I think Kirino Onii-chan's methods of teaching were...weird. Repeatedly punching a post until my hands actually broke? hitting my forehead against a wall until I blacked out? Kicking the pillar continuously until my legs broke? Repeating this entire process again once I healed? It was really, really sadistic._

_Amazingly, I found that the strange sadistic training actually enabled me to have incredibly strong physical strength and endurance. Little punches didn't hurt me and dspite being a frail looking girl, I could knock out a man double my height with one well-aimed punch. Well, a normal man._

_"YAH! I did it!" Onii-sama picks himself off the ground and rubs his stomach. "oof. Good job Kiri-chan. Now, here." When I managed to beat him in a fight (it was pretty unfair though) he had only frowned and handed me a jitte._

_"Nope. You're still not strong enough. Here, keep practicing those patterns and start learning how to use this." The jitte was a defensive tool, rather than an offensive one since it was mainly used for blocking and pushing back swords. I guess it was pretty useful since practically everyone used a sword; but I found it a boring weapon until Kirino Onii-chan showed me how it could be easily hidden in my kimono and quickly withdrawn, this made training easier. Especially since Ane-ue was getting suspicious as to why I kept spending hours delivering lunch to the dojo and returning all beat up. Luckily her husband was going to have to move back to Shikoku so she'd be going back with him._

_ "Wow~ Kiri-chan, you're pretty strong aren't you?" Kirino Onii-chan aka my sadistic teacher gives me a thumbs up and hands me a towel to wipe my face. Even though he's old enough to be my father, everyone else called him Onii-chan so I copied them. Before long, it just stuck._

_ "I wanna be even stronger! Cos there's a lot of people I need to protect!"_

_Kirino Onii-chan messes up my hair and smiles "That's good Kiri-chan. But you have to remember, even if you can't protect someone; it doesn't mean you're weak." He stops messying up my hair and looks at the sky with a faraway look in his eyes. Apparently, before I was born he had been involved in some incident. Nobody would tell me exactly what, but even I could tell it was something I shouldn't ask about. _

_"When you grow up...there will be people...who you won't be able to save."_

* * *

"Alright. We're here."

Harada stops at the base of the mountain and tries to crane his head to face me. I face the other way and speak to Ryu-kun "The grave I want to visit is further down the river. Actually, I'd like to pick some flowers for him, so walk along the river." Ryu-kun happened to be going to same way as us and decided to go with us to the grave, something about doing a favour for Kosuzu-chan.

"Oh yeah, Ryu-kun, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be spending time with Kosuzu-chan. Speaking of her..." I snicker to myself as he frowns at me "You two haven't gotten very far, am I right?"

"W-what are you trying to say Osho-san? T-tch." Ryu-kun turns beet red and glares at me "I-it's none of your business!"

"Ara, you still don't even know Kosuzu-chan's real name. That's saying quite a bit, isn't it?" I smirk at him and chuckle Ryu-kun makes an 'eh'? expression on his face as he stares dumbly at me and gapes. "All girls who become property of Shimabara must take on a new name. It's extremely rare for any of the girls to be using their real names."

"S-so what! You don't even know so why should i! dammit!"

"I do know it actually." I smirk at Ryu-kun who looks even more annoyed as he pouts "Hey Sho-san, how do YOU know Kosuzu-chan's real name?"

"That...isn't something I can tell you." I turn away from the men and pretend to be busy rearranging the flowers "...when the time is right, when Kosuzu-chan tells you her real name, then I might tell you the reason why I know."

"Does this have anything to do with Benigawa Oborodzuki?" Ooh he's a sharp boy. I stick my tongue out at him and shrug "Maybe. But I'm not going to tell you anything. Ok, stop here." Harada obediently stops and raises an eyebrow as I attempt to escape.

"hey, hey, hey just relax and let me do the heavy work." He holds me firmly in his arms as I clock him on the head trying to escape. "..fine." He smiles "good! Now, just tell me whatever you want to do and I'll do it."

"Ok. Go kill youse- er I mean .. kindly take me to the river down there."

He places me down onto the grassy edge as I twist my body around and begin picking some higanbana. The fireflies floating around the river move away from me as I snap the flower stems roughly and add them to the pile in my arms.

"That's an odd choice of flower." He bends down and picks up a higanbana, turning it around in his hands and looking genuinely curious at it, like he's found a new toy. "You shouldn't mess around with offerings for the dead." I snort and grab the flower from his hand "Well, since they bloom around graveyards most people assume they mean death. However, they can also symbolise 'meeting again' or the red thread of fate'...not to mention ... it happens to be my favourite flower." I clamp my mouth shut quickly, what's the point in telling someone, especially the enemy this? Strange. For some reason, it feels oddly familiar talking to him, almost like he's similar to someone I know.

"Haha, oddly enough, its suits you very well!" He kneels down next to me and places a flower in my hair with a smile "Who knows, perhaps you could be my red thread of fate...wait..." he edges closer and stares at my face carefully "...have we met before?" His golden eyes study my closely and I feel the blood start to drain from my face. At the moment, I have no weapons on me, courtesy of some quick thinking bastard. I'm confident in my hand to hand combat but since I'm crippled in one leg, this would pose a huge disadvantage. Perhaps, this really was fate. I could kill him right now and hide the body somewhe-

"No. Aside from the incident at the Tanabata or when I was Benigawa Oborodzuki, I don't think I've ever seen you before." I mentally sweatdrop since there's a tiny chance he just might put two and two together and figure out 'Nanaya' the shifty maiko is the same as Benigawa Oborodzuki the hitokiri and Kasamori Sho the tea proprietor.

**~X~X~X~**

"Huh?" Ryu-kun looks at the grave with surprise as he scratches his head. "there's gotta be some mistake somewhere." The grave belongs to a couple "Kato Ayame and Yasuda Keiichi". There's nothing particularly odd about it, though Ryu-kun seems very confused.

"Kosuzu asked me to tend to the grave of her friend, 'Ayuri' since she couldn't make it. But the person here is 'Ayame'? Why's that?" Ryu-kun looks confused and starts looking around at the over graves, though its hard to even figure out the names since most of them are either crumbling or the grave markers are blank. Harada chuckles and takes some of the flowers from my arms, rearranging them roughly in his hands. "Remember what Osho-san was telling you before? About the girls at Shimabara taking on a new name?" Ryu-kun nods slowly, starting to get where this is going "Ayuri's birth name was Kato Ayame. Keiichi is the name of her lover."

Both Ryu-kun and I stare at Harada with surprise and speak in unison "How do you know this?" He looks sad as he places the flowers gently into the vase and claps his hands to pray. "Keiichi is the name of my friend within the Shinsen, no, Roshigumi at the time. I met Ayame a few times back then too, they planned to run away and start a family in Nagano."

"Things don't always go according to plan. The proprietor, Karyu found out and alerted Serizawa. I found out about Serizawa's plans from Toshi and tried to warn Keiichi but never got there in time." A look of hurt and regret flickers across his face as he remembers the past. "By the time I got there, Keiichi had been forced to drink the Ochimizu and lost himself in madness. He killed Ayame, then Serizawa finished him off."

We sit there in silence as Harada finishes speaking. I sneak a glance at Ryu-kun as he clenches his fists together and stares with intense concentration at the grave. "...I...I want, more than anything to be with Kosuzu-chan." Harada and I both turn to face him as Ryu-kun stands up slowly, his eyes gleaming with determination I never knew he had. "I don't have the money to buy her freedom, but I'm willing to risk my life to be with her. So..." he goes down onto his knees and presses his head to the ground towards us. "Sano-san. Osho-san. Help me sneak her out of Shimabara. I beg of you. "

"Hey, hey there's no need to bow down to me like that." Harada laughs good naturedly as Ryu-kun lifts his head with slight embarrassment " Kosuzu's one lucky girl." He turns to face me and grins "So, what do you say?"

I feel a vein twitch in my forehead. On one hand, I'd like to kill him off, but that might just make things more difficult for Ryu-kun. "...I guess it can't be helped." I grit my teeth and manage something resembling an angry tiger about to eat a helpless animal. "I'll work with you to help Ryu-kun and Kosuzu-chan. Nothing . Boya." I smirk at Ryu-kun as he looks nervously at me "I'll gladly help Kosuzu-chan, however, you on the other hand...hiring Benigawa Oborodzuki doesn't come cheap. What sort of payment do you have in mind?"

"P-payment?" Ryu-kun practically squeaks as he looks at me smirking at him "I don't have any sort of money! All I can do is paint, though who knows how many years it'll take me to come up with that amount of money!"

"Money? Don't think of me like that, boy. Just give me the right to name your first born child , and!" I flick him in the forehead and withdraw my finger as he rubs his pained forehead with a scowl "You promise me you'll make Kosuzu-chan happy for the rest of her lif-

"-geez! I know that! Honestly! Osho-san, you're really underestimating me." He turns beet red and pretends to look mad, but it's obvious he's incredibly happy about this. "Ryu-kun. There's one important thing I need to ask you." He stares back at me with the same burning determination as he clenches his fist "I'll do anything , since it's Ko-

I cut him off with a wave of my hand "What if, Kosuzu-chan doesn't want to run away?"

Ryu-kun stares open –mouthed and stares ahead silently. "Osho-san, where was the grave you wanted to visit?" Harada manages to change the subject, turning to face me as I feel cold sweat pour down my back. I used the excuse of wanting to visit a grave, but there's a slight chance they might figure something out if I actually ask to visit someone I know.

"...further down the mountain." I point to a grave marker almost hidden among the tall higanbana growing wildly around it. "Sure." Harada hefts me higher up on his back and walks over to the grave as I stare blankly ahead. His back...is warm.

**~X~X~X~**

"..." Harada abd Ryu-kun clap their hands in respect as I sit in front of the unmarked wooden sign and clap my hands together to pray. _Geez, you're such a weird person Oboro. Seems like you wanted to wipe your existence completely when you died. Still, I seem to be plagued by reminders of you even now. _I place the remains of my rough bouquet near the marker and sneak a glance at Harada. He returns my gaze and smiles gently. "...why..." I stare at the flower in my hands, watching as the wind blows it gently and turn to face Harada. "..why are you so...similar to him? "

Harada says nothing and just looks at the grave as I continue "...that person, and someone very special to me. Whenever I look at you, I feel like I'm looking at them. It's strange." I turn to face him and crack a small smile. "For some reason, I know I'm not supposed to be feeling this way, but you're...I feel like I can talk to you about anything. Ugh." I slam my head between my knees and groan in pain as I irritate the injury in my leg. "

"I'm glad to hear that. Though, " He sits down next to me and smiles softly " this is the first time we've actually spoken properly to each other. The other times, you'd either be trying to kill me or kill yourself."

"Shut up." I elbow him roughly and quickly withdraw my arm as I flinch_. Stop it. Just stop getting comfortable with him. He's the enemy remember? Even if he's like another Shin-chan and Oboro-san, you CAN'T have anything else to do with him._"...you're kind." I mumble softly to myself as I stare at my hands. All those years of physical abuse have made the skin calloused and rough, almost like I'm wearing a pair of gloves, the skin on my index finger and thumb are also worn clean away; all those times I fired my rifle. It's not something you'd see on a normal girl. Then again, I'm a hitokiri. A blade for Onii-sama. "...?"

A warm feeling surrounds my hands as Harada places them in his "Whoa. You must have had a rough life." His sympathetic gaze half makes me want to tell him everything, half makes me want to punch his lights out. "I know. My hands are ugly." I pull my hands back roughly and scowl "What else would you expect from a hitokiri? Beautifully painted fingernails? Pfft. I wouldn't think so. I gave up being a girl long ago. " I curl my hands into fists and shove them into the folds of my sleeve. "I'm...nothing more than a sword. Killing, maiming and causing sorrow, that's all I'm good for really."

"I don't think that's true." He rummages around in his kimono and pulls something out. A flash of gold escapes from his closed fist as he motions for me to open my hands.

"Ah! That's mine!" As soon as I see the familiar thin gold buyao in his hands, I involuntarily snatch it from his hands and cradle it close to myself. "Thank goodness! I thought I lost it forever! Thank yo-" I instantly jerk backwards and turn myself away from Harada, who looks surprised.

"Hey, you look really cute when you smile like that." He quickly recovers and flashes me an attractive smile. "It suits you so much more than that scowl. Well, I'm somewhat the same." He leans back on his hands and stares ahead "All I can really do is kill people , just like you.

"No. You're...different." "I've...encountered many different kinds of men in my line of work. Many of them, they're all the same. But you...are different. Ugh, what am I saying?" I shake my head and look at the buyao in my hands "...this is something incredibly important to me. Thank you." I thread the hairpin through my hair and flick the chains gently with my fingers "...that's the only time I'll ever be thanking you." Harada chuckles and winks "Sure."

* * *

Things are getting beyond my control right now. Why, why in the world am I out here watching the parade at the Gion Festival when Onii-sama is somewhere searching for Takechi-sama? actually...why in the world am I with goddam Harada of the Shinsengumi and going to the festival with him? of all people? well, Ryu-kun and Kosuzu-chan are here as well so I _guess_ it's not so bad. Thanks to Kosuzu-chan, and Chizuru-chan as well; I was able to head to Umeka-chan's home and grab a change of clothes and of course, spare weapons. Though there's no way I could arouse suspicion , so back to the wolves den I went. It had only been 2 weeks, but it honestly felt like forever to me.

"Ara! This is such a beautiful display!" Kosuzu claps her hands excitedly and points at the float that just went past. Ryu-kun frowns and points to the one behind that "Nah, I think this one looks better."

"...Shiranui?" out of the corner of my eye, I spot a familiar blue haired man in the middle of arguing with a small group of men. He snaps something at his companions, punches him to the ground before running off somewhere I can't see. Hmm, something doesn't feel right. Why would Shiranui be running around like that? He's allied with the Satsuma but usually only acts under Chikage-dono's orders. Unless... if Setsura's information was accurate, then Miyabe might actually try to carry out his plan today.

"Is something the matter?" A pair of golden eyes stare at me as I quickly shake my head and scowl at him as I deliberate on whether or not I should warn him. Well, them. I have no reason to help a Bakufu man, but Ryu-kun and Shizu-chan are here. "...There's going to be a fire in the Gion district. Don't ask me anything, just go back to your headquarters and issue a warning. Hurry."

Harada's eyes narrow with suspicion as he looks carefully at me "how do you know this? So it's true that you are allied with the anti-Bakufu forces?" I stamp my foot with frustration and gather the collar of his kimono in my hands, tugging him closer to me. "You're wasting time!

"During the Ikeda-ya raid, we captured some Choshu men. They confessed that they were planning on setting fire to Kyoto, kidnap Matsudaira-dono in the confusion and use that distraction to attack our headquarters." I keep my grip on his kimono and speak softly "I'm...aware of that. Several of my friends were killed during that raid" Itou-san's silent tears as he kept punching the wall and Yasuko-san who was hysterical to the point I heard Kusaka had to give her tranquilise her. "..your point is?" Harada shakes his head " We gathered the ringleaders and confiscated their entire supply of gunpowder and weapons. There's no way they can carry out their plan."

"The main ringleader, Miyabe. He managed to escape Ikedaya and gathered supplies from the Western arms dealer. Look, he's not the sort of man who'll let a little obstacle like that stop him." My patience is running thin as I pull Harada's kimono closer to me with frustration. " He's acting alone. This has nothing to do with Choshu, just... please! None of the Bakufu men will listen to me, much less a hitokiri."

"..." Kosuzu's giggling manages to attract my attention as I see her turn red and blush cutely towards Ryu-kun who shoots a 'i-knew-it' smirk in our direction. I guess from an outsiders point of view, it looks like Harada and I are hugging or something. I notice Ryu-kun mutter something to Kosuzu-chan and they both glance at us. Kosuzu-chan covers her face with her tiny hands as she giggles adorably. "haha! I bet -

A loud explosion from further down drowns out what Kosuzu was saying. People begin screaming in terror as a one of the floats bursts into flame,spreading rapidly among the crowded streets of the Gion district. The smell of burning paper begins to merge with the slightly sweet smell of burning flesh as the damage begins to increase. I knew it.

"Ryu-kun! Get Kosuzu-chan to safety! Hurry up!" Harada instantly snaps to attention, directing the terrified people as they run aimlessly around. "Osho-san! This way!" Harada holds tightly onto my hand and begins dragging me to safety. Ryu-kun has Kosuzu-chan on his back as he runs quickly towards the Shinsengumi headquarters. "Let go of me." I twist my hand, freeing myself from his grip and stand back as he looks at me with surprise. I reach into my kimono and pull out a pistol, aiming it at him as I unlock the safety with a 'click'. "You haven't forgotten that I'm a hitokiri, have you? "

"That has nothing to do with anything." Harada refuses to let go and tries pulling me towards him as I stand my ground. "Right now, you're just Sho, and I refuse to leave you alone like this."

"Since when were we on a first name basis?" I glare at him and continue aiming the pistol at his chest "you...really are like him. Always doing whatever the hell you want even if...grah!" In another time and place, maybe things might have been able to work out between us, but that's just me being immature and greedy. "You're selfish and cruel."

I pull the hairpin from my head and shove it into his hand. "Take care of this for me." His eyes widen as he stares at the hairpin. His eyes seem to say _"Why? Isn't this incredibly precious to you?"_ as he opens his mouth to speak. I cut him off by placing my fingers on his lips and shaking my head. "...Don't bother going after me. Just focus on protecting what's precious to you. We're enemies after all."

"What are you trying to accomplish? Sho-san, ju-guh!" Harada winces and falls onto one knee as I shoot him directly in the shoulder. "...if only things were different."

**~X~X~X~**

The air is thick with smoke and the smell makes my eyes water. I rush past people running in different directions, ignoring the injured and the corpses as I search for Miyabe, or for any of my friends. Shin-chan probably isn't here since after the Ikedaya massacre, he'd have to keep a low profile. As for Onii-sama, he's probably over at Teradaya, which is pretty much a second home for u- "Tch. Get out of my way." A Rasetsu stops tearing apart a person crushed underneath a wooden board and stares at me hungrily. "Disgusting" I shoot down the Rasetsu and kick it into the burning building for good measure. If these things are around, this must mean one thing. The experiments are still continuing. Though whether the Bakufu is behind it or Tosa, I can't really say.

A familiar looking and incredibly out of place woman is standing ahead, behind a man with his back turned and sword raised. From the red shine on the sword, it seems he's just killed or injured someone. Or maybe something? "Setsura!" I sprint ahead to the woman as she turns around with surprise on her pretty face. "...ara!" Her male companion turns around and I see it's Chikage-dono. He nods in greeting to me and shakes the blood off his sword, before wiping it clean on the dead man's kimono. Hold on..the dead man looks very familiar. I stare at the bloodied face and gasp, it's Miyabe. Well, at least he's gone for good now. Though this won't do anything to reverse the damage he did.

"..Yu-chan." Setsura looks almost pitifully at me then shakes her head as she grabs my shoulders and shakes me violently "What the hell were you doing associating with a Shinsengumi officer?" I shoot her a withering glare "I was injured by Kodo.. technically it was my fault ..but during that time I was imprisoned at the Shinsengumi headquarters. I needed to blend in and avoid drawing attention, so that was the only way. Trust me." I pause and frown at her. Nobody contacted me or saw me the entire time. Odd, but if any of our allies had seen me, they would have said something. "How do you even know about that?"

"Osen's mirror can reveal anything. But that isn't the issue here. You should know better than anyone else, we can't afford to see those people as human." She looks angrily at me as her lips purse up with annoyance and frowns "Have you forgotten your purpose? A hitokiri is a blade, eventually you'll have to cut them all down so don't you dare go putting personal feelings ahead of your duty."

"So, is killing them to get revenge for Kazu personal feelings too? Am I not allowed to do that?" I cross my arms and look at Setsura who continues to frown at me "I'm getting close to him so I can gain his trust, maybe even the trust of his comrades then stab them when it's easiest. Unlike YOU I actually do things for a reason."

"I think the past would beg to differ." Chikage-dono finally speaks, an amused grin on his face as Setsura and I stop our argument and glare at him. "...Yukimi, don't forget our original purpose for being here."

"The situation among the Tosa is unstable. Takechi Hanpeita was killed by Okada Izo for his betrayal to Tosa, and now your brother has assumed leadership in his place. However, we've received word that he is attempting to continue the Rasetsu manufacture Takechi was doin-

"...you're lying." I cut her off sharply "Onii-sama is incapable of doing something like that!" I push her away violently with anger, how _dare _someone like her even try to think she understands Onii-sama? "You don't know a single thing about my brother. You have no right to say something like that." My voice goes softer as I stare intently at her "From the moment we entered the ranks of the Tosa royalists; every single man who was in Onii-sama's way, every single time somebody became a threat to Onii-sama or to his goals...I was the one who killed them. Not Onii-sama, but me. " I continue as Setsura stays silent "My brother would never turn to violence, so don't think for a second that those rumours are true."

"Well..." she seems to hesitate to continue and glances at Chikage-dono who shrugs lightly and speaks "Several of Takechi's supporters and possibly some Bakufu supporters who were for the Rasetsu army decided to seek revenge for this and targeted Teradaya."

Teradaya. That's the only other place Onii-sama would be, since that's the only other safe place apart from home. I instantly feel like someone is squeezing my heart slowly as I turn to Chikage-dono and speak slowly "...is...Onii-sama...alright?" My hands start getting sweaty with fear as I look almost desperately at Chikage-dono's red eyes for confirmation. "..Ryoma...was almost killed. Thanks to a woman working at the Teradaya, he managed to kill the assassins and escaped."

"...oh.. I sink to my knees and hug myself tightly "..thank goodness.. Onii-sama..He's alive." That sinking feeling from before disappears as I feel a huge wave of relief. Oni-sama is still alive. I knew it. He wouldn't die so easily anyway. Tears of relief start pouring down my cheeks as I start smiling like an idiot. Hmm, the woman who alerted Onii-sama must have been the owner, Otose-san since we're on close terms with her. I guess, in a way, Otose-san and Karyu are a little like my mother. Actually, Karyu is probably more like the permanently angry aunt.

"Isn't there somewhere you should be now?" I furiously wipe my tear as Chikage-dono nudges his head further down the road. "...?" The fire is rising quickly and amid the smoke it's hard to see who, or what is there. I look back at Chikage-dono who shows me what looks like a smile and a smirk and heads off with Setsura who waves slowly to me before turning away.

"..Sho-chan." I freeze and point my finger with pure surprise at the man standing in front of me. "Why...are you here?...Harada?"

Harada pauses to catch his breath and coughs lightly " I was worried about you." I almost choke on my breath before laughing " You think this an appropriate time for jokes? huh?" My voice gets high pitched as I giggle and point at him with laughter. He takes hold of my hand and looks at me seriously.

"Ryu-kun's been taken by the Oniwabanshu for questioning. They're planning to execute him as an accessory to Serizawa's crimes."

* * *

**_The Oniwabanshu was like the Shogun's secret ninja army! kinda like the Bakumatsu period ASIO (though maybe not as evil as ASIO lol!) and Kosuzu's friend Ayame...I kinda forgot her actual name but in Sano's route in Reimeiroku, they talk about her and 'Ayame's ' lover is Sano's friend. Girls who ran away from Shimabara actually had their legs broken or were killed so maybe that's why Shizu is so scared :O. The anime could have done so much with Ryu and Shizu's story! Ugh! like they just ignore all the cutesy rabu rabu because it's not in Hijikata aka poster boy's route. TvT aaand that's why I'm adding in the game stuff and my own ideas teehee~_**

**_ok~ let's have Itou-san do the chapter preview this time!_**

**_Itou: *smiles at the fangirls* I'm Itou Hirobumi. *sparkles* not Itou Kashitarou. *makes an x sign with his fingers* We're to completely different people._**

**_Mei: YUP!YUP! HUGE DIFFERENCE! They're not the same guy! THIS Itou is sooo much hotter! *sighs* and dreamy!ah! but Sano is my bias~_**

**_Itou: Well, next time : 'Chi-ooh *spots a pretty girl* Hey there, what do you say about going out with me?_**

**_Mei: OvO! he ran away! Why's everyone running away from the preview? Fine! I'll do it! T-tch. Next time! ooh it's chapter 11 XD teehee~ I passed 10 chapters! *ahem* Next time : 'Chijou' (Blind Love)_**


	11. An update of sorts

Hey, it's Mei here.

For all my readers, I'm sorry I haven't really been updating lately (for a loong time...) but as I am now, I've completely lost the will to continue writing the readers who sent me PMs...who read this fic and reviewed, thank you..but...

**Mei is very sorry. It is impossible for me to write anymore.**

My studies are very time consuming and I've been reduced to a uselessly lame shoujo heroine *sobs* (love is very very ouch)...so...yeah..

Thanks to everyone who did enjoy my half-assed works and I love you.

-Ryujin Mei


End file.
